Game of Wizards
by Transcendent Equinox
Summary: Harry dies against Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest and discovers he's in a videogame. Armed with that unique power, he decides to wreck anyone that gets in his way. [Gamer!Harry, Harry/Fleur/Tonks, AU/MASSIVE-Crossover]
1. Act One: Prologue

**Any material that could potentially be considered infringement of copyrights and trademarks should be considered the property of their respective creators or owners. You are reading this of your own freewill, so please refrain from doing so if you don't like graphic violence, explicit sexuality, vulgar language, polyamorous relationships, or usage of drugs.** ** **If you have any comments, questions, or concerns you can leave a review or PM me. Also, if you would kindly** **review, favorite, follow, and/or share the story with communities, I would greatly appreciate it.****

* * *

 **Act One: Prologue**

* * *

 **(Unknown Location; July 31st, 1998)**

Harry Potter stared at the world around him, blinking in confusion. He was surrounded by shadowy darkness, facing the floating words, **You Are Dead,** written in eerie crimson ink. Grayed out below that were the words:

* * *

 **You Are Dead**

 **Reload Last Checkpoint  
Return to Title Screen**

* * *

He couldn't believe what he was reading, or what it meant for him either.

"I sacrificed so much blood, sweat, and tears... and for what? A bloody game?" he muttered softly, still reeling from the shock of experiencing death. He'd accepted that he needed to die, and walked into the forbidden forest to face off against Lord Voldemort one final time. And in the end, it didn't even really matter. All of the conflicts and stress that he fought against for these past seventeen, almost eighteen, years was meaningless.

He cried for a few minutes, allowing his emotions to run their course while he continued thinking about what it was that he needed to do next. His hand wavered over **Return to Title Screen** , which glowed an even brighter red. It was nearly blinding in its radiance, yet he refused to look away from it. Then all the floating, luminescent ink swirled about before forming several more lines of words:

* * *

 **New Game**  
Load Save  
 **Settings**

* * *

Only the first and third choices were colored-in, meaning that he could actually select them. He clicked on the **Settings** menu, to see what aspects of his life could be changed with the press of a button.

* * *

 **Settings**

 **Gameplay**  
 **Audio/Video**  
 **Cheats**

* * *

He stared at these words with narrowed eyes, his anger at the unfairness of his previous existence growing by the moment. Harry clicked on the first option and was greeted with this sub-menu:

* * *

 **Gameplay Settings**

 **Difficulty (Normal)  
Hints and Tutorials (Off)**  
 **HUD Opacity (Transparent)  
Perspective (First Person)**  
 **Navigation (Off)**

* * *

His lips twitched in amusement after he changed them all to this:

* * *

 **Game Settings**

 **Difficulty (Very Easy)**  
 **Hints and Tutorials (On)**  
 **HUD Opacity (Opaque)  
Perspective (First Person)**  
 **Navigation (On)**

* * *

Something told him that this was going to be a much easier and more interesting life than the one he'd just left behind. With all of this help, he might even be able to beat it without dying. That thought did at least a little to keep him from exploding with anger.

The **Audio/Video** set of options was straightforward, and Harry saw no need to fiddle with the setup that he already had, other than increasing his **Field of View** by ninety degrees. It was a bit disconcerting to be capable of seeing more than he could before. It would probably help him out of a sticky situation at some point in the future.

Next he looked over the **Cheats** tab:

* * *

 **Cheats (Unlocked By Gathering Collectibles and Completing Achievements)**

 **Phoenix Down:** Unlocked By Gaining the Respect of Fawkes. Grants the Single-Use Ability to Evolve An Owl Into a Phoenix.  
 **Shining Knight** : Unlocked By Saving Three Damsels In Distress. Quintuples Reputation Gains With Females.

* * *

He grinned and selected the **Cheats**. That would certainly make his job a hell of a lot easier. Shrugging, he returned to **Title Screen** and selected **New Game**. A small box appeared soon after with this prompt:

* * *

 **Edit Attributes (Up To 20 Points Can Be Distributed)**

 **STR (Strength)...** Affects Carry Capacity and Melee Damage... 3  
 **PER (Perception)...** Affects Navigation and Sensory Abilities... 2  
 **END (Endurance)...** Affects Vitality and Energy... 2  
 **CHA (Charisma)...** Affects Party Capacity and Social Status... 1  
 **INT (Intellect)...** Affects Learning Rate and Experience Requirements... 3  
 **AGI (Agility)...** Affects Movement and Attack Speed... 4  
 **WIS (Wisdom)...** Affects Magic and Decision Making... 2  
 **LUK (Luck)...** Affects Success Rates With Everything... 3

* * *

He decided that **INT** would probably benefit him more than some of the other **Attributes** that were at noticeably higher levels. He simply removed one from **STR** , two from **END** one from **AGI** , and one from **LUK**. This raised his **INT** from one to six, which he was happy with. Moving on to the next box...

* * *

 **Edit Traits (Up To 8 Traits Can Be Selected)**

 **Athletic:** Physical Activities Are Easier **  
Brave:** Effects of Killing Intent Halved  
 **Brooding:** Negative Emotions Amplified **  
Charismatic: CHA** With the Weak Minded Doubled  
 **Good** : Double Positive Morality Bonuses  
 **Handy** : Good At Fixing Things  
 **Hot-Headed:** Easy to Anger  
 **Lucky:** **LUK** Effectively Doubled  
 **Rebellious:** Rarely Gets Caught Wrongdoing

* * *

Selecting the first **Trait** opened up an entire list of other possible **Traits** he could choose. The entire list was far too long to actually try describing it on here. And what's more, quite a few of those traits were incompatible with one or another, so he had to experiment a bit to find a combination that would adequately do him justice.

With that settled, he finally got around to starting the **Game**. After ignoring a single prompt that asked him if he wanted to overwrite his last **Checkpoint** , he read a small box appeared soon after with this message.

* * *

 **Edit Name (Harold James Potter)?  
Edit Date (June 31st, 1998)?**

 **WARNING: KNOWLEDGE OF HORCRUXES AND HALLOWS WILL BE REMOVED FOR GAMEPLAY PURPOSES!  
Are You Sure You Want to Start a New Game?**

* * *

He was certain that he wanted to start a new game, because that was the only choice left to him. But, the thought of losing that edge made him a bit nervous. But he just squared his shoulders.

But the date... well, that was definitely something that he was going to change... "Four years ought to do the trick..."

* * *

 **(France; July 1st, 1994)**

Fleur Delacour walked across the sandy beach and watched transfixed as the Mediterranean Sea repeatedly crashed into her back yard. The sun glowed above her, the glistening water sparkled before her, and her smooth red lips quirked upwards. Bliss swirled through her majestic body upon returning to her ancestral home. She sighed happily at the warmth covering her nude figure, stretched into a yoga position, and blinked lazily at the resplendent beauty of the world around her.

Lying on a towel in the sand next to her was her younger sister, Gabrielle. She looked like a miniature version of Fleur, though not quite as developed as her older sister since she hadn't yet gone through their unique brand of puberty. "So Fleur," said Gabrielle as she enviously admired her sister's Big Toe Pose, "I was wondering... how old were you when you went through the Change?"

Fleur sighed and changed into the Lord of the Dance Pose, as she regarded one of her most precious people in the world. "I was about thirteen, your age, when it finally happened," she said, her eyes growing distant as she relived the memory.

"What did it feel like?" whispered Gabrielle, her eyes pleading for more details on the subject. It would be happening to her very soon, just like what every other veela went through.

"I won't lie to you, it hurt like a bitch,") said the elder beauty, her lilting voice contrasting the crass words. Fleur shrugged her shoulders, as she shifted to a different yoga pose, her jovial attitude doing nothing to bury the tension underlying the conversation. Sweat starting glistening across her smooth body, though it somehow made her seem even more attractive than before.

Gabrielle smiled and said, "I'm scared about it, but only a little. It's just that... I know it could happen at any time, at any place without warning."

The likelihood of her going through an intensely painful transformation process would grow marginally everyday, until she would succumb to her bodies urges and allow her instincts to take hold. Enormous emotional reactions tended to expedite the metamorphosis process, and those were frequent in _normal_ hormonal teenagers, let alone those with phantasmal blood flowing through their veins.

"That's true enough, I suppose," said Fleur as she stretched her spine.

"I just can't help but wonder if there's some way to force it to happen painlessly, or maybe to prevent it from happening altogether. I want to go through the Change, I really do, but the pain... I don't want to be stuck in the body of a child for the rest of my life either, not if boys'll just see me as a little girl while the other girls my age leave me behind."

The conversation was a heavy one already, and Fleur only just got back home for summer break from Beauxbatons earlier that day. The day was coming to an end, the sky becoming a veritable rainbow of color from the setting sun.

"I know how you feel; I was there four years ago..."

They stood in companionable silence, particles of sand clung to their dainty feet as they watched the beautiful sunset together. Gabrielle's stomach growled, and they both giggled, the dramatic tension of the moment broken.

They turned her back towards the enormous mansion they called home. Chatteau Delacour was hidden away from the rest of the world by powerful enchantments laid down centuries ago by her paternal side of the family. In fact it was probably the only reason that she would ever dare to leave the confines of her room with the tiniest amount of skin showing as a veela.

Their smiles grew as they ran back to their towels and bathing suits. Fleur had decided, upon reaching the family's private beach, that she'd rather not wear clothes after all, simply because it wasn't all that necessary when nobody could trespass on their lands. And, being the typical little sister that always wants to emulate the older sister, Gabrielle quickly mimicked those actions.

Now, knowing that soon she'd be treated to her favorite foods by the Delacour family's personal master chef, Roselia, they quickly began slipping into their clothes. Gabrielle decided to discretely examine her sister's body, to gauge about what she'd look like after the Change.

Most women would probably do inconceivably unhealthy things to themselves to get a body that looked even half as attractive as Fleur's, but the Delacour sisters' maternal ancestry allowed them to almost take it for granted. Being a part veela made them a perfect ten in appearance by human standards even on their worst days.

They began the short walk back to their beach-side mansion. There were beautiful marble balconies, giant stained glass windows depicting long forgotten tales about the achievements of their ancestors, and dozens of brick chimneys sticking out of the slanted rooftops.

Gabrielle ran as fast as she could back to their home, laughing all the way there.

Fleur's almond-shaped eyes twinkled with happiness as she watched her beloved sister be an energetic young girl. Turning, she looked over her home. The grounds had beautiful gardens and flowerbeds, orchards and vineyards, a stable and kennel, and even an aviary. People wondered why she seemed spoiled, but that's what you get when you're arguably royalty.

Shaking her head to regain track of her thoughts, Fleur covered her flawless skin with a racy black bikini. She could take the chance of running into her parents without accidentally flashing them now that she was properly clothed, so she entered through the still open front door.

The tantalizing scent of French cuisine wafted through the house, signifying that her favorite house elf was preparing a special meal just to celebrate her coming home from Beauxbatons with a perfect grade point average.

She quickly ran up one staircase out of the five or so that adorned her house and quickly headed to her room to get changed into proper eating attire. Swiftly Fleur entered her room and quickly changed into more appropriate attire for fine dining. She quickly headed to the dining room, where the rest of her family were already waiting politely for her.

"So, Fleur, now that you're back home, I was wondering if you'd like to continue honing your racial abilities?" asked her mother Apolline. Fleur grinned and nodded, making her mother smile happily before adding, "You're gonna have a busy vacation, young lady..."

Laughing, Louis Delacour decided to comment before his wife got lost on a tangent, "Also, I'd like to begin your... _other_ training." Fleur's smile slipped as she heard her father's words.

"Father, are you serious?" she asked softly. The entire table was quiet, as both Apolline and Gabrielle watched.

"Fleur, I love my family more than anything else in the world. And... I don't feel comfortable with you going to an entire other country, especially a corrupt country run by blood purist conservatives, without having this particular set of skills to fall back on," said Louis Delacour, a small amount of his insecurity finally coming through.

He just didn't quite think that she'd be able to rely on her fledgling abilities as a maiden. Perhaps when she grew into the formidable matron stage of her race's lifecycle like her mother, or even if she managed to become a nigh unstoppable matriarch like her grandmother, but those wouldn't happen for decades at the very least.

"I don't think its nearly as bad as you're envisioning it to be, my love," said Apolline, her kind voice taking on a tender tone as she gently rebuked her husband. "After all, we haven't even been there. Who are we to judge them without even gracing them with our presences?" she asked rhetorically, her elegant eyebrow raised slightly in a surreptitious challenge.

He gulped and turned back to Fleur before continuing, "You were three years old, Fleur, when Britain was in strife, and I remember worrying about it spilling over into the mainland. I... I want you to learn how to protect yourself in situations where I can't do it for you, and it should help you with the Triwizard Tournament."

Fleur gave a small smile and said, "I've been asking you for years, but you only want to teach me when I'm leaving the nest?" She just chuckled softly, "I should've threatened to leave earlier if that's all it would take." At a sharp look from her mother, she relented, "I'm sorry, father. But, how will I have enough time to study under you? I have to cover a year's worth of magecraft, and I'm constantly working on my racial powers..."

Louis sighed in defeat and said, "I didn't want to give you this until your birthday on Halloween, but it'll serve a better purpose if you have it over the summer." He got up and said, "Roselia," to which said house elf appeared out of nowhere. Smiling indulgently, he said, "Would you kindly retrieve Fleur's birthday present from me? It's in my personal office." The house elf nodded and complied before disappearing with a faint pop. Within moments it reappeared and he took the proffered gift from Roselia's tiny hands.

It was a fairly small parcel, wrapped in bright blue paper with a white bow. Handing it to his daughter, Louis smiled expectantly and said, "There are several rules concerning its usage, but I trust that you won't abuse this gift unduly." As those words were spoken, Fleur opened the package and peeked inside before gasping in disbelief. Her slender hand reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a necklace with an hourglass shaped pendant.

"A time-turner..." she muttered breathlessly, her twinkling sapphire eyes staring unabashed at the trinket.

The glittering sands held within the hourglass were actually the crushed up wings of pixies, the weakest subgroup of faeries known to man. Ever since the discovery of temporal distortion in the vicinity of the creatures, as well as the eventual quantification of such a phenomenon, there was a gold rush that placed them all on the endangered phantasmal species list. So many were leaving the world nowadays...

"Yes," said Louis with a grin, "I expected you to react like that. You already know the rules of its use, so there's no point in repeating it. Just, please follow them. It would be a bit awkward to explain if you were found with that during the Tournament, even if you _are_ my daughter. Do you understand, Fleur?"

Nodding absently, Fleur murmured, "Thank you so much, father..."

* * *

 **(Britain; July 1st, 1994)**

Harry Potter was sitting on his bed at Privet Drive, staring at his hands in shock. There was a strange feeling for a moment filling his head, before something indescribable happened. Jerking his head backwards, he burrowed it into the soft pillow on which it was resting only moments previously. After a few minutes, his body lost all rigidity as he finally relaxed, his breathing deep and peaceful.

Then he realized that he remembered everything. He remembered his death at the hands of Lord Voldemort and the weird rendition of the afterlife that he was subjected to, and he was starting to wonder if all of that had been an elaborate dream until he saw it.

A holographic menu sprang into existence in front of him.

* * *

 **Welcome, Harold James Potter, To Your Videogame Life. Would You Like to** **Start the Tutorial?**

 **Yes**  
 **No**

* * *

He, more out of curiosity than anything else, clicked yes. The phantasmagorical screen minimized into a lightning bolt icon that was spinning, just above the word **Loading**. Then the icon, which had stayed in the exact center of his vision no matter where he looked, faded away. It didn't appear to be a physically present thing, because it had no reflection in his mirror, which didn't make him feel any better about the fact that he could see it.

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: Tutorial**  
 **Objective 1: Do Your Morning Ritual**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 100 EXP**

* * *

Blinking, the young wizard looked around his bedroom for signs of anything out of the normal. It was a little delayed, but a rushing feeling washed over him, the drums of war pounded in his chest, and some text overlaid parts of reality, something that he was vaguely sure that only he would be able to see.

Shrugging, he quickly got to work preparing himself for the day. And as he did so, he noticed that several horizontal bars were highlighted into existence in the bottom left-hand corner of his vision.

* * *

 **Needs**

 **Hunger/Thirst**  
 **Bladder/Bowels**  
 **Energy/Rest**  
 **Hygiene**

* * *

Each bar showed up when he was doing something pertaining to them; **Hunger/Thirst** when he was consuming breakfast, **Bladder/Bowels** when he was using the restroom, **Energy/Rest** when he eyed his bed, and **Hygiene** when he started taking his shower. He blinked in confusion at that, wondering if that was a part of himself or the game.

At those thoughts, a hint box appeared in the center of his vision: _'Your **HUD** works by taking the data that you subconsciously gather about yourself and the environment, and organizing it into graphic displays, all of which is pertinent to whatever situation you find yourself in.'_

When he was finally finished with his typical morning routine, a tingly sensation covered his whole body, as the notification appeared:

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Do Your Morning Ritual**  
 **Objective Unlocked: Complete Your Chore List**

 **Sub-Objective Unlocked: Cook Breakfast** **  
** **Sub-Objective Unlocked: Mow the Lawn** **  
**

* * *

And as he sat there, thinking about his current circumstances, it finally dawned on him: he was actually back in 1994. He could prevent so many pointless deaths. Names began popping into his head, of all the people he'd failed: Remus and Tonks, George, Snape, Dumbledore, Dobby, Cedric... Sirius...

Hedwig finally hooted, and he realized that he also had his familiar back. And that reminded him of a **Cheat** he just unlocked. With it already activated, he preternaturally realized that all he had to do was will it to happen, and it would be so.

"Hedwig, become a phoenix!" he declared. And nothing happened for almost five seconds, making him think that he'd messed something up.

But then his owl exploded, a miasma of white flames spread out in the air above him, sprouting out from where she once was. The eldritch energy coalesced into a vaguely avian shape before condensing. The brightness faded out of the predatory shape slowly, forming a fiery aura around a bird that was steadily coming into view, as if his glasses prescription were constantly adjusting to the new being.

The levitating entity that occupied space above his bed slowly descended towards the mattress he was lying on, the bright misty fire it exuded slowly evaporating into the shadows of the room. The white bird opened its eyes, revealing them to be blood red as it gazed into his own bespectacled emerald orbs.

They stared at each other in silence, though Harry was too frightened to even move. The creature before him felt _alien_ as if it didn't even belong to the world. It reminded him of Fawkes, that feeling of unearthly origin and warmth being almost identical.

It was at this moment that he noticed that he could see the name Hedwig floating over the phoenix, sort of like how character names can appear over their heads in the role-playing videogames that his cousin liked to play. "This is real, isn't it?" he asked softly, knowing deep down, somehow, that this wasn't a trick. He got no response from the phoenix, so he just shrugged.

Now was not the time to sit back and question things; now was the time to plan, to try making things work out better than they had the first time around...


	2. Act One: Tutorial Part 1

**Act One: Tutorial Part One**

* * *

 **(Britain)**

It was a bit jarring to go from a man laying down his life on a battlefield for the ones he loved, to being a kid forced to do chores again. Shrugging, he sat on the edge of his bed, thinking about the oddity of his existence now that he knew he could survive death via being the avatar of a videogame player. He began pondering whether this self-awareness was what allowed him to be aware of the **Game** at all, and whether the people around him were players or characters.

As he was sitting there, he realized that his musings were very unlike the way he used to think, and wondered why for only a brief moment. But then he remembered how he changed his **Attributes** and **Traits**. He didn't know what other effects this might have on his persona, which was almost as disorienting as the fact that he was a videogame character.

But, only time would tell.

 _"Hello Harry,"_ a soft feminine lilt echoed through the room. Or at least, that's how it sounded to him. But something told him that it was a voice that only he could hear, in his mind. _"I've been wanting to talk to you for some time, but that was quite frankly impossible until just now,"_ the melodious voice continued. Harry's eyes darted about his room, before landing on his former owl.

"Hedwig?" he queried, staring at the ivory phoenix that was almost too bright for his eyes to stand. In fact, his glasses appeared to be making his vision fuzzy so he took them off, full to the brim with curiosity and bemusement. That's when he noticed that there were other things he could see that he shouldn't be able to, floating holographic words that defied all logic.

 _"Yes, it's me,"_ she cooed from inside her cage, _"-who else could I be?"_

He didn't answer, just continuing to silently take in the majestic appearance of the phantasmal creature. That's when he noticed her name was floating above her head, and even further above that was a golden question mark. "... You've always been a beautiful bird, but now you're just on a whole different level," he said softly to his only pet.

He received some warmth from their new yet familiar bond. It seemed to be an empathic and telepathic link between them, which he'd never heard of before. It's difficult to describe such connections to those who have never experienced it before, but it is, in essence, wonderful. The brain becomes euphoric goo, the neurons flowing along synaptic pathways are given newer, more complicated routes across tiny threads of mental energy binding the two connected minds.

Harry decided not to question it, for the time being. There were a lot of questions to be asked at the moment.

"So do you know what's happening to me?"

 _"Your life is a videogame. It always has been, and probably always will be as far as I can tell,"_ replied Hedwig gently, breaking the news to him as softly as she possibly could. _"Everything has been running on autopilot for the most part. **The Game** starts from this point on, because you were made aware of it; you chose to start everything at this point in time..."_

They sat in a dull silence for a few moments, enough time for the gravity of the situation to affect Harry. He let out a breath, blinked, and turned his hardened eyes onto his companion. _"I'm in the middle of the Tutorial, aren't I?"_ he guessed.

 _"You are,"_ admitted the firebird, _"-and it's my job to inform you about what's going on, as your familiar. Normally you would have to figure it out on your own, but you granted me sapience with a **Cheat**. Thus the rules can be bent a little. I have instinctive knowledge about the **Game's** mechanics now too. So, I'm your instructor, guardian, and partner from now until the moment I completely die. Our bond is unbreakable and unmovable, Harry, and I will remain loyal to you until the end. You have my word, as a being of fire and light and magic."_

He surreptitiously gulped, but otherwise didn't react to the casual acceptance of her eventual death and ease with which she proclaimed undying devotion to him. "Thank you, Hedwig. It means more to me than words can show," responded Harry, smiling softly at his second oldest friend. Then, he turned serious. and requested, "Let's get through this **Tutorial** as quickly as we can."

The intelligent bird hooted in agreement, a gleam coming to her beady blue eyes. _"I'm going to be moving through these subjects quickly, so let me know if I'm going too fast for you."_ He nodded so she began, _"All around you, you can see data and information superimposed over reality, such as the quest icon and name that I presume are floating above my head. This is the augmented reality aspect of your **Heads-Up Display** ( **HUD** )."_

"I'm following you so far."

 _"Good. Now, your **HUD** gives you information on yourself and your surroundings. You'll notice that in the bottom left-hand corner of your vision is a small circular map of the world immediately around you, with various icons showing different people, places, and things that you can interact with. Surrounding that is a a compass, and a clock based on the movement of the sun and moon across the sky. Their purposes should be immediately apparent to you..."_

"They are, so you don't have to go into detail on them," he said with a small grin.

 _"Perfect. In the upper right-and corner of your vision you should be able to see three thin bars colored red, blue, and green. The red is your **HP** , which is a measure of your life-force; when it runs out, you die. The blue is your **MP** , which is a measure of the magic energy at your disposal; when it's depleted, you can't use magic. The green is your **SP** , which measures your physical energy; when it runs out, you can't do physical activities."_

"That sounds like a bit of an inconvenience, but it doesn't sound any different than how things already are. I guess its nice to be able to visualize where my body is, rather than trying to feel it out," admitted Harry.

 _"I guess the programmers wanted everything to be immersive,"_ she said indifferently. He nodded to show his understanding, and she began again, " _Now there is an_ _intuitive menu system, so it shouldn't take long for you to understand how to navigate through them,"_ said Hedwig. _"First, extend your arm right forward, then swipe your index and middle finger in a downward fashion,"_ she continued.

He did as he was told, and a lightning bolt icon sprang into existence in the center of his vision. It slowly spun in place, before picking up speed and expanding into a menu.

* * *

 **Main Menu :**

 **Inventory**  
 **Party**  
 **Journal**  
 **Settings**

* * *

Shrugging, he decided to go through each of the submenus just to figure out what all was going on. Luckily for him, the layout was quite intuitive and he quickly learned how to navigate through it all. He did notice, however, that time slowed down substantially when that menu was open. So it wasn't quite like pausing the **Game** , but it was awfully close.

* * *

 **Inventory (Carry Weight 20lbs)**

 **Weapons:** Holly and Phoenix-Feather Wand **  
Apparel:** Nerdy Glasses (+1 **INT** ), Ratty Shoes (-1 **END** ), Hand-Me-Down Shirt (-1 **CHA** ) **  
Aid:** N/A **  
Books:** N/A  
 **Crafting** : N/A **  
Keys:** Gringotts Key **  
Miscellaneous:** N/A

* * *

There was a small hint box that said, _'As your **Inventory** grows, separate tabs will be created for each **Item** category.' _ He found this to be incredibly helpful information, and was glad that he chose to add hints and tutorials to this playthrough of his life.

In all honesty though, thinking about his life as if it were simply a playthrough of a videogame felt very odd, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get over it any time soon. Deciding not to dwell on it, he clicked on the **Party Sub-Menu**.

* * *

 **Party (Capacity 1/1) :**

 **Hedwig:** LV 1 (1/100)

 **Health Points** : (300/300) **  
Magic Points** : (500/500) **  
Stamina Points** : (100/100)  
 **Reputation** : Likes You

* * *

He couldn't help but whistle at Hedwig's stats. And just when he was thinking about whether there was a way for him to learn any more information about his familiar, she spoke up: _"Companions will reveal more information to you, the higher your **Reputation** is with them. Maxing out your **Reputation** with them can unlock unique **Perks**..." _ Now that was certainly interesting.

However, he didn't have time to deal with anything like that at the moment. Moving on to the **Journal Sub-Menu**...

* * *

 **Journal :**

 **Player**  
 **World**

* * *

Now he wasn't really certain what he'd find under the Player Tab, but he clicked it anyway...

* * *

 **Player :**

 **Information/Status**  
 **Attributes/Traits**  
 **Abilities/Perks**  
 **Skills/Techniques**

* * *

 **Information** **:**

 **Name:** Harry Potter  
 **Level** : 0; **Experience** : 0/100  
 **Title:** Boy-Who-Lived  
 **Class:** Wand-Wizard  
 **Occupation** : Student

 **Renown** : Five Stars  
 **Reputation** : Heroic  
 **Morality** : Good  
 **Purity** : Lawful  
 **Luck** : 6

 **Status** **:**

 **Health Points** : (100/100) **  
Magic Points** : (100/100) **  
Stamina Points** : (100/100)

 **Hunger/Thirst** : (100/100)  
 **Bladder/Bowels** : (100/100)  
 **Energy/Rest** : (100/100)  
 **Hygiene** : (100/100)

* * *

"So, what exactly does it mean by **Experience**?" he added as an afterthought.

The phoenix answered, " _ **Experience**_ _is gained whenever you complete any number of **Tasks**. These can be **Activities** , **Diversions** , or **Quests**. You also get **EXP** when you defeat an enemy, increase a **Skill** through usage or **Skill Books** , or increase an **Attribute**. Once you've accumulated enough **EXP** , you can then **Level-Up**. This restores all of your **HP** , **MP** , and **SP**. Not only that, but it allows you to increase an **Attribute** of your choice by one point or choose a **Perk** , and increase any **Skill** of your choice by half your **Intelligence** plus ten_."

"Sounds easy enough. Now, it says that I'm a Wand-Wizard. What does this mean?" asked Harry.

" _A_ _Wand-Wizard is the word used for a magi that requires a wand to cast spells. These are the most precise and versatile kinds of magi in the world, though not a heavy-hitter by any stretch of the word_ ," she continued, a hint of amusement in her voice now.

He nodded to show his understanding before turning to the next page, **Attributes** and **Traits**. He looked under each part and was somewhat amused by the simplicity and breadth of each category, glad that there were description of what each thing did right next to them.

* * *

 **Attributes** **:**

 **STR** : 2  
 **PER** : 1  
 **END:** 2  
 **CHA:** 1  
 **INT:** 3  
 **AGI:** 4  
 **WIS:** 2  
 **LUK:** 3

 **Traits** :

 **Adventurous: PER** Effectively Doubled  
 **Brave:** Effects of Killing Intent Halved  
 **Charismatic: CHA** With the Weak Minded Doubled  
 **Disciplined:** Martial Arts Skill Training Doubled  
 **Genius: INT** Based Skills Training Doubled  
 **Irresistible: CHA** With Females Doubled  
 **Lucky: LUK** Effectively Doubled  
 **Workaholic: Stamina** Effectively Doubled

* * *

He just couldn't decide where to put all of his future points, so he thought he'd hold onto them until something forced him to make a decision. He did, however, decide to place two points into **Charisma** at his earliest convenience so he could invite Hermione and Ron into his **Party** as soon as he saw them next. They were all supposed to meet up for the Quidditch World Cup, after Hermione got back from her vacation to France. He wondered how they'd react to his new situation.

* * *

 **Abilities** **:**

 **Parseltongue** (Incomplete): Allows the User to Speak to Snakes  
 **Fiction Adaption** : Allows the User to Adapt Fictional Skills and Knowledge and Use Them As 'Truths'; Activation Enabled Once Every Level-Up.  
 **Fiction Integration** : Allows the User to Adapt Fictional Abilities and Powers and Use Them As 'Truths'; Activation Enabled Once Every Five Level-Ups.

 **Perks** **:**

 **Wand-Wizard Class Trait** : Allows the User to Cast Spells, and Wanded Magic Uses 50% Less MP  
 **Gamer Perspective** : Sleeping Grants **Well Rested** Bonus (Increasing Gained **EXP** By 10%) and Restores **HP** , **MP** , and **SP** and Heals Temporary Status Effects;  
 **Corrupted Blood** : The User's Blood is Poisonous to Enemies and Restorative to Allies; Gained From Near Death Experience Involving a Basilisk and Phoenix

* * *

"These things called **Fiction Adaption** and **Fiction Integration**... Are there limits to what they can let me do?" he asked slowly, wondering just how far he could push something like that. There were already ideas forming in his mind about how to go about becoming the strongest being in existence, from this ability solely.

"There aren't many, other than you have to know specifically what you want to replicate. But you should be careful with this **Ability**. If you choose a power that is beyond what your body can take, the strain of using it could very well kill you," came Hedwig's amused voice.

Ah, he'd have to forget about becoming a Saiyan-Shinigami-Kryptonian-Asgardian-Celestial hybrid for the time being then. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to the **Perks** for a few moments.

 _"You can gain more perks as rewards for **Leveling-Up** , completing difficult **Tasks** , increasing **Attributes** and S **kills** , or doing other noteworthy things,"_ explained Hedwig. That would definitely explain that last **Perk**.

* * *

 **Skills:**

 **General**

 **Household Management** (0/100): Child-rearing, Cleaning, Cooking, and Gardening  
 **Riding** (0/100)  
 **Speechcraft** (0/100)  
 **Stealth Arts** (0/100)  
 **Sword Arts** (0/100)

 **Rowling-Verse**

 **Care For Magical Creatures** (0/100) **  
Charms** (0/100) **  
Herbology** (0/100)  
 **Magic Dueling** (0/100) **  
Potioneering** (0/100) **  
Transfiguration** (0/100)

* * *

He blinked at that, and asked aloud, "So I can only increase my **Skills** every time I Level-Up?"

Hedwig shook her majestic head and said, _"No. Your **Skills** can be increased organically simply by using them. Every **Level-Up** , you simply get a number of bonus points to be used however you see fit. The minimum you gain per level is ten, with half your **Intelligence** being added onto this. Your **Attributes** can also increase organically like this, but they take much longer to train."_

"Oh, okay," he said.

Continuing, Hedwig stated, _"Only **Skills** that you've used show up on that page; the rest are hidden until you try to use them for the first time. When you perform new actions, you'll be alerted that this **Skill** has been unlocked. Consequently, every **Skill** has special **Techniques** associated with them that are unlocked at regular intervals. And beyond that, once a **Skill** has been maxed-out, it will replicate and mutate, allowing you to continue with your training in a more specialized version of that field."_

There was a companionable silence as he took all this in.

Hedwig grinned, as impossible as that may be for a bird, and replied, _"And now it's time to begin the final step of your **Tutorial**. But first, you can use your **[ Fiction Adaption]** and **[Fiction Integration]** abilities. Of all the **Skills** , **Knowledge** , **Powers** , and **Abilities** that you're aware of, which would you like to have the most, off the top of your head?"_

Harry blinked at that, having forgotten about the near limitless power that could be gained with such an ability. He'd start small, at first. He was thinking about an anime that his fat cousin liked to watch, which was loud enough to be heard through the walls at night. It caught Harry's attention one night, so he climbed out his bedroom window and looked into Dudley's room from the roof.

It was a pair of crimson eyes, with 'tomoe' orbiting the tiny pupils. And this single feature allowed that particular character to do all sorts of crazy shit. He'd never forget, the awe-inspiring power of... "The **[ Sharingan]**," said Harry dramatically, feeling something deep within him clicking. "Also, I think Nasuverse magecraft would be a safe bet..." he muttered, feeling his second **Ability** activate in so many seconds.

 _"And now you must live with these choices,"_ she replied gently, sounding almost proud of her master for his choices.

"Right," he returned, equally softly. His eyes were still their normal emerald, but he instinctively knew how to activate his new ability. He did so as he looked in his closet mirror, seeing that his eyes were now a deep crimson color. Unfortunately, it appeared to have a single tomoe in his right eye, while the left had none at all. It seemed that he'd be starting from the very bottom with that, but it was still an enormous advantage to have.

* * *

 **Objective Complete: Discover the Game's Mechanics**  
 **Completion Reward: 100 EXP**  
 **Objective Unlocked: Enter the Mind-Scape**

* * *

 **(France)**

Fleur Delacour was lightly panting, but a satisfied smirk was adorning her elfin face. The fire-retardant dummy in front of her was currently on fire, showing that her power over the element was growing in leaps and bounds. Her mother Apolline, who was keeping a careful eye on her eldest daughter's progress, smiled in delight at Fleur's accomplishment.

"Bravo, Fleur, bravo," said the woman in genuine delight. "Your lust-fire is significantly more powerful than I expected it to be, especially for a maiden. Have you been practicing at Beauxbatons?" she asked. Lust-fire was really just the more classical way of saying veela-specific pyrokinesis, though the flames did have some pheromones added to them.

A veela was like a normal girl for the earliest portion of her life, until undergoing the metamorphosis once their magical cores stabilized during puberty. In other words, their transform for the first time into their Harpy form. After that they enter their maidenhood, in which: Their Siren form grows into a beautiful young adult, and their phantasmal powers begin developing.

Veela trained to be witches tended to undergo the change much earlier than non-witches though. In fact, Gabrielle was supposed to be transforming any day now...

The beautiful blonde nodded slowly, "There were a lot of suitors that just didn't take no for an answer. So I had to start getting a bit more forceful in my rejections. And then, there was that incident with Jacques..." Her mother's eyes narrowed at the mention of her daughter's would-be rapist, vindicated in the knowledge that Fleur burnt him quite severely for the attempt.

The mother hid that anger with another smile, saying, "Well I'm glad that you had some of your racial power at your disposal. Now that you're proficient at using the lust-fire, we are going to head into one of the more difficult powers that you'll need to learn to wield, aura-gazing." Aura-gazing was, again, a more classical yet mysterious way of referring to to a not uncommon power.

It was really just empathic detection, allowing a veela to determine the emotions of the people around them. This lets them deal with threats to their virtue long before a conflict with a despicable man could arise, but it extended to all feeling. This is why veela are essentially lie detectors, and very good at mating. The sister ability is empathic projection, meaning that they can somewhat control the feelings of the people around them. This happens on a subconscious level anyway, and it's referred to as their allure.

But Fleur already mastered her allure, which is why they were moving on to aura-gazing now.

"I've already mastered that too," admitted Fleur, her breath finally starting to come back to her. "In fact, all of the Siren powers are things that I've been working on for a few years now. I've got lust-fire, aura-gazing, and allure just fine. I think I need more help with the glamours more than anything else, but even them I'm starting to get down pat..."

Apolline was internally shocked at her daughter's progress, on top of having perfect grades at France's premiere educational institution and being a champion broom-racer. The woman blinked and said, "Well, keep up the good work. Now it's probably best if you seek out your father for his training. You've come as far as your maiden body will let you go. We'll work together again once you become a matron, and I've grown into a matriarch."

Fleur smiled her gorgeous smile and said, "I'll hold you to it, mother. Hopefully it won't take too long..."

And to become a matron, a veela and to perform a soul-meld on her animata, her life partner. Apolline didn't think that either of her daughters were ready for that. But, there was a niggling suspicion in the back of her head that that'd be changing soon. Call it mother's intuition, if you would...

* * *

 **(Britain)**

 **Objective Complete: Enter the Mind-Scape  
Completion Reward: 100 EXP  
Objective Unlocked: Explore the Mind-Scape  
Action Foundation Unlocked: Meditation**

* * *

Harry looked at the translucent words that were filling up all of his vision a bit skeptically, wondering how something as asinine as **[Meditation]** could be a **Skill**. Shrugging, he opened his eyes and found himself in a dark space, with a spotlight on him and only him. He didn't know where the inexplicable light was coming from, but he wasn't about to complain, since it allowed him to at least see something.

He stood up from the hardwood floor, wondering why his mind-scape was seemingly made of holly. "Well this place is oddly depressing," said Harry. It was all dark, nothing to be sensed at all. Of course Hedwig stated that his mind-scape would appear to be empty, because he hadn't yet explored his subconscious. Or something like that.

Then he heard it.

There was a baby crying out, somewhere in the darkness surrounding him. It sent a chill down his spine, and he decided to activate his **[ Sharingan]** to see if it would help. It didn't. However, as he walked, he noticed that the path he moved was illuminated by the spotlight as well. He began searching around, his new eyes still active just in case.

He knew, from his many encounters with the dementors, that there were many things hidden within the dark corners of his mind that could bring him to his knees if he came across them, and he didn't want to be unprepared.

He was walking around for nearly five minutes, slowly coming closer and closer to the source of the wailing, until he finally found it. It was a baby, but not quite. It looked more like a fetus, pulled out of its mother and left in this dark place. But that didn't make any sense, because he didn't have any idea why something like this thing would be in his mind.

"What the hells are you supposed to be?" he asked softly as he approached, stopping just short of it. He wanted to poke it with his foot, but something told him that that'd be very improper and rude. Or something. His sense of humility was eroding quickly, and it probably had something to do with him now knowing that he was just a part of some elaborate videogame.

This space, the representation of his mind in such a way that he himself could perceive and interact with it, was nothing more than a simulation in a game. Probably.

Shrugging, he reached over to pick the child up. And as soon as he touched it, the crying stopped. In its place came high-pitched maniacal laughter, the kind that he was intimately and hauntingly familiar with. This baby had the voice of Voldemort. He dropped the baby out of instinct, but it clung to his body, and he saw that his **HP** , **MP** , and **SP** were beginning to drain.

"Fuck," he said, trying desperately to rip the thing off of him. It took all of his might, but he ended up detaching the vampiric creature and throwing it like a football off into the distance. But the laughter never stopped. In fact, it only started to grow, and then it started to surround him. Another spotlight formed, where he intellectually knew the baby landed.

But in its place was a copy of him, one that was laughing hysterically and had snake-like red eyes. Not the **[Sharingan]** , just the eyes of a person possessed by the shade of a dark lord. "Indeed," said the copy, his voice a dual-tone between Harry's own and Voldemort's. "I was wondering when you'd finally make your way down here. Although, I thought it'd happen after you started learning the mental arts... No matter. I'm going to kill you and take over your body now."

It was around this time that Harry realized that the being he was facing had a name floating over its head, much like Hedwig did. "Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux?" he wondered aloud. Shrugging, not even going to try asking the freakish thing in front of him what a horcrux was, he pulled out his wand and entered a dueling stance similar to a fencer.

But then he noticed that, apart from the name, there was also a health bar below it. _"You'll see the health bar appear around a non-playable character (NPC) when you've entered combat with them. As your pet, I'll do my best to support you in this fight, but you must be the only one to attack that thing,"_ came Hedwig's voice, as she appeared next to him in a burst of white flames.

"Hedwig, what're you doing here, in my mind?" asked Harry.

 _"I'm a phoenix, love. The laws of science and logic don't really apply to me as they do to you. And they don't even apply to you very much, do they? Now, let's kill us a horcrux!"_ came her gleeful answer.

Shrugging and deciding to just roll with the insanity that spawned from his own pet firebird, he turned towards his enemy. The two mirrors gave each other bloodthirsty grins, before pulling their wands back. "Let's do this," said Harry, somewhat surprised by how eager he was to enter combat with a being that should by all rights terrify him.

It grinned back and said, "Yes, let's."

* * *

 **Objective Complete: Explore the Mind-Scape  
Completion Reward: 100 EXP  
Objective Unlocked: Kill Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux**


	3. Act One: Tutorial Part 2

**Act One: Tutorial Part Two  
**

* * *

Raising his wand, Lord Voldemort's Final Horcrux shouted, " _Avada Kedavra_!" A jet of brilliant green light erupted from the mental construct's wand, and Harry felt his stomach clench. He remembered the odd dreams he had about his parents' deaths, the Dark Lord's cruel laughter followed by green light. He knew what curse the thing in front of him just cast. He didn't even need his **[ Sharingan]** to tell him what it did.

Instantaneous death.

Harry completely dropped to the ground, landing flat on his stomach and knocking the wind out of his lungs. But he survived the opening attack, and was ready to retaliate the moment he was marginally more safe. Gritting his teeth, the boy shouted the first thing that came to his mind, " _Expelliarmis_!" It might not have been the most impressive spell to use against a dark wizard, but it was more than enough to test his opponent.

And it actually revealed quite a lot, to Harry's shock and growing horror.

With his **[ Sharingan]** spinning, Harry could see the magic circulating through his enemy's body and wand. It was well worth the constant drain of **MP**. An energy pulse from Voldemort's core reached the wand in milliseconds, just before he casually deflected the disarming hex by batting it aside with his wand, completely forgoing a shield altogether. In that moment, Harry discovered how to parry enemy fire, thanks to his new eyes.

* * *

 **Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Wanded Parry  
**

* * *

Realizing that his **[ Sharingan]** was allowing him to learn things preternaturally swiftly between its eidetic memory and adoptive muscle memory, Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. But now was not the time to celebrate. Now was the time to fight.

At that moment, Harry grimly realized that he had no cover to hide behind in the dimly lit wooden world. There was no way in any of the hells that he'd be able to take a fully-grown wizard on in a straight fight, let alone a powerful dark sorcerer known for being on par with Dumbledore himself. He needed somewhere to hide.

It was just as these thoughts entered his mind that walls began raising out of the floor up to about his waist in height, consisting of holly wood just like the floors. Now, he had some cover. Harry blinked at that, wondering how this came to be. He certainly didn't consciously try to change the terrain. Putting conscious effort into trying to trap his enemy in a wooden cage, nothing happened.

"Huh. Guess it's gotta be a subconscious need," said Harry. Shrugging at that, he began waving his wand and shouting, " _Impedimenta_! _Incarcerous_! _Stupefy_! _Immobulus_! _Expelliarmis_!" He noticed that each spell made a tiny unique dent in his **MP** bar, but not enough to be too detrimental. They were all non-harmful options, of which he was sure none would be very effective against his current enemy.

Then, Hedwig intoned, _"_ _Your **MP** represents your magic reserves, what fuels all magic spells and techniques. Fully depleting this resource can lead to magic exhaustion, a debilitating but temporary condition. Use your **MP** wisely..."_

But therein lay the issue. On one hand he wanted to get out of mortal peril as soon as possible, as well as receive his experience and begin the process of leveling up. But on the other hand, he was already gaining more knowledge in his fight with this wraith-like clone of himself than anything else he'd ever experienced. It was a bit odd for him, having not expected his opponent to be as powerful as he was.

However, none of his final opponents had been at their peak ability; they were all weakened by one thing or another, completely unlike the being that stood before him. Voldemort kept walking forward calmly, parrying each hex as if they were flies before the ultimate fly-swatter that was its wand. Harry's spells crashed to the ground and deteriorated before he could try doing anything else with them.

He couldn't bend them through the air or make them bounce off the ground because Voldemort's blocks were severing their connections to him, making some of his newest **Techniques** useless. Harry was completely unable to land a hit on his opponent, and the demon-eyed bastard didn't even seem to be putting any effort into his parries as he relentlessly marched forward.

Then, when they were standing no less than ten feet apart, Voldemort unleashed his own volley of spells.

Harry thought that his spell-casting speed was pretty good. But in the face of the sheer cascade of spells unleashed on his position, he blanched and could only duck behind the wall. Sticking his head over, he saw his opponent gather an enormous amount of energy into his wand. With a contemptuous smirk, Voldemort release an extra-powerful, " _Bombarda Maxima_!"

* * *

 **Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Effect Amplification**

* * *

That wall was now no more, but fortunately he rolled away in time.

Hedwig spoke up, _"Your **SP** is an indicator of your overall energy, which is expended during strenuous physical activity. Once your **SP** is depleted, you begin to become fatigued, which means that all physical activity comes with a delay and a price...'_

Harry almost laughed at that notification. At least he was getting something useful out of this near-death experience (or actual-death experience, since he wasn't altogether sure that he could escape this gaming sequence unscathed).

He hid behind another wall, if only to catch his breath for a few precious seconds. The wood lasted mere moments under an assault of a half-dozen, " _Confringo_ " and " _Reducto_ " spells raining down on it. Then things began to get much more intense; Voldemort upped the ante, as it were. And Harry's eyes were greedily drinking in the details of his arsenal.

" _Bombarda Maxima_!" another explosion, though not supercharged. " _Infriga_!" causing the temperature to plummet and ice to form over the ubiquitous wood. " _Confringo_!" the resulting explosion shattering the ice and wood, using the splinters and debris in a manner much like a fragmentation grenade. Harry managed to evade most of the devastation, only receiving minor cuts and bruises for his efforts.

* * *

 **Skill Unlocked: Elemental Manipulation  
Skill Unlocked: Shape Manipulation**

* * *

His **HP** dropped about a twentieth from that, and he frowned at the loss of precious vitality.

At that, Hedwig informed him, _"_ _Your **HP** is an indicator of your overall vitality. When it is depleted, you will be incapacitated and a timer (affected by your **END** ) will begin counting down. During this time, allied forces can resuscitate you, or enemy forces can commit a fatality, wherein you die and must start over from the last **Checkpoint**."_

Harry was panting just from trying to survive, and the being he was fighting still continued to march forward with nary a care in the world. " _Agua Eructo_!" called Voldemort, a laser-like beam of water erupting from the tip of its wand and easily piercing Harry's next wooden defense. A diagonal slash cut the wall in half, leaving rivulets of water running down the seemingly still solid wall to form tiny puddles around Harry's supine body.

The wall promptly slid down slightly. " _Forzare Maxima_!" called out Voldemort's hauntingly familiar voice. A concussive force smashed into the barely erect wall, destabilizing it. It almost fell on Harry, had he not rolled out of the way in time. " _Gravitas Deprimo_!" Voldemort cackled in amusement, increasing the downward thrust of the falling wall, the resulting impact causing a shockwave that knocked Harry back onto his butt.

There was also a dent in the floor, a small crater with hairline cracks leading mostly towards Harry, where all the water suddenly was. " _Glacius Tria_!" cackled the Monster, the water suddenly flash-freezing into a spear that leapt off of the ground and stretched towards Harry's bespectacled eyes.

" _Impervius_!" the Boy-Who-Lived screamed, while pointing his wand at his glasses, hoping that it would at least do some good. The razor-thin needle turned slightly to the right, before the whole spear cracked and broke apart from the strain of supporting its own weight. _'Thank the gods for Hermione's help during that stormy quidditch match last semester,'_ thought Harry. He was going to kiss her the next time he saw her, on the cheek.

Harry picked up the sharp tip of the broken ice spear, before tossing it straight up into the air. Looking at it with his **[ Sharingan]**, he could see the reflection of the world beyond his temporary sanctuary of wooden wall. Within a second, Harry pinpointed the Horcrux's location, pointed his wand at the ice shard, and said, " _Waddiwasi_!" Again, the drop in **MP** was negligible.

The point of ice shot towards his clone with the force and speed of a bullet, a sonic boom letting him know that it broke the sound barrier in the pursuit of his enemy. Since it wasn't a spell, the Monster wouldn't be able to deal with this attack in the same... In a daze, Harry watched his opponent lazily say, " _Protego_ ," creating a tiny shield around his wand tip, allowing him to parry it to the side all the same.

"Fuck everything in existence," said Harry, really fed up with the way things were going. "Hedwig, I need you to distract him for a moment," he growled out, furious at himself for needing to rely on his pet in such a dangerous situation. But, if there was one thing he knew about phoenixes, they could handle themselves in a fight.

In a flash of white fire, his former owl joined the fray.

Rather than stand still and simply parry the phantasmal creature's attack, however, the Shade began actually evading these attacks. Perhaps it showed that he had a healthy amount of respect for phoenixes, or maybe he just didn't see Harry as that much of a threat. And seeing how the fight had been going so far, Harry wouldn't blame the Doppelganger.

" _Fumos_ ," he said, causing fog to cover his position. " _Silencia_."

He hopped over the wall noiselessly, his approach hidden in the fog. His spinning eyes watched as his Clone cart-wheeled, rolled, flipped, handsprung, jumped, and sidestepped all of the white-hot flames and razor-sharp feathers raining down on him from up above. Harry paused and watched as the being retaliated even as it dodged.

Voldemort shouted, " _Reducto_!" created a ball of ruin, something powerful enough to break even a powerful being like Hedwig. The white raptor corkscrewed around the attack, releasing glowing white streaks that gouged out the ground. The Dark Lord continued to evade, Harry's eyes memorizing his every movement.

" _Expulso_!" came his own voice from the mouth of the Horcrux, bringing forth a pressurized explosion that whipped even Harry about from this distance. The phoenix screeched a tumultuous scream in response and a wall of intense vibration smashed into the enemy, who faltered but still dodged the next fireball that instantly disintegrated the wood it landed on.

Harry began concentrating on gathering as much energy into his wand as he could, hoping that his friend would be safe.

The Monster snarled, " _Incendio Tria_!" resulting in a ball of flame that could be felt from dozens of feet away from the battling duo. Harry's control over his own pooling energy slipped somewhat, and he could barely hold onto the stick of wood slick with his own sweat from stress. But fire was the worst way to fight a phantasmal creature whose main element was fire, so he allowed himself to continue focusing on the task he assigned himself.

" _Forzare_!" continued the Shade's assault, producing an invisible force that actually buffeted the ivory bird, but the young wizard forced himself to block out any negative thoughts. Harry watched as she descended in a spinning freefall, gritting his teeth as he allowed his emotions to begin fueling his spell too. " _Deletrius_!" screamed the Horcrux, generating a beam of eradication.

Hedwig unfurled her wings at the exact right moment to dodge the lethal attack, her crimson eyes glinting in fury. Then she began to sing, and Harry began to understand the stories about Phoenix Song. He felt his magical core resonating with the lilting warbles of his beautiful familiar, his morale rising with the tempo and volume of the phantasmal creature's voice.

His Doppelganger began screaming, even as he continued moving every single drop of his magic into his wand. " _Sonorous_!" screeched Voldemort, the world blurring as the air vibrated from his powerful hex.

Harry's eardrums burst, blood leaking down the sides of his face, yet still he continued. Hedwig's song hesitated for a moment, but continued soon after even stronger than before. His blood was beginning to thump to her beat.

" _Sectumsempra_!" brought forth ethereal and invisible blades, though their frenzied slashes merely caught the wood behind where the white bird had been mere moments before. " _Diffindo_!" followed by, " _Defodio_!"; severing hex followed by gouging, but neither hit their mark even if they were a bit closer. Voldemort began to growl, an almost animalistic sound, before standing up straight and entering a new stance.

Harry saw that his body was rippling with magical energy now. " _Agua Eructo_!" the piercing water-beam, " _Glacius Tria_!" the prickly ice-spear, " _Bombarda Maxima_!" the massive explosion, " _Forzare Maxima_!" the concussive force, " _Ventus Tria_!" the tempestuous whirlwind. Warily watching from his position, Harry noticed that the Horcrux's wand-motions were fluidly leading from one spell to the other, and he wondered if there was some significance to that.

* * *

 **Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked: Incantation Chaining  
** ** **Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked:** Magical Ricochet**  
 ** **Magic Dueling Technique Unlocked:** Trajectory Bending**

* * *

Harry merely ignored the notification for the time being. Between the ferocity of Voldemort's casting and the sheer brutality of his choices in curses, nothing would be able to stand up to the Dark Lord's might. It was like sheet metal trying to withstand a Gatling gun, or even a sheet of paper for all the difference it made here. Nothing, as long as Hedwig stayed away from the Monster.

But then things got even more dicey. " _Gravitas Deprimo_!" sent the ivory bird straight to the ground. " _Orbis_!" made the ground begin swallowing up Harry's familiar. With a smirk, the Horcrux said, " _Fulminos_!" and a bolt of lightning arced from the wand's tip to the bird on the ground. In a burst of white flames, Hedwig was gone, and Harry felt something deep within him, something that surprised even himself.

A shiver of pure, raw Hatred ran down his spine. It was both cold like the arctic and hot like a volcano. And it had a target.

Feeling that he had the adequate amount of energy to bring the fight to an end, Harry pointed his wand at the Horcrux. " _REDUCTO_!" he cried, an orb of destruction almost the size of his chest rocketing out of its tip. This time, a fourth of his **MP** was drained instantaneously, and he began panting heavily from the exertion.

" _Protego Maxima_!" called out his opponent smugly, lessening the damage by more than enough to simply tank the tiny remainder of the spell that got through. They then both shot "Bombarda Maxima!" at each other, though neither expected the outcome of such a course of action.

Their spells collided in the air, before a bridge formed between the two wizards. All of the sounds of battle were overwritten by static, the colors of the world seemed to invert themselves, and Harry could feel the magic itself in the air. And then world seemed to implode around them, throwing them both brusquely to the floor.

* * *

 **Skill Unlocked: Observation  
Ability Evolution: Sharingan**

 **Attribute Trained: Luck  
Current Luck: 4  
**

* * *

"Was that a glitch?" asked Harry aloud, jumping to his feet and gain some more distance. His **MP** was now at about a third of its total capacity, though the constant drain from his **[ Sharingan] **was less than it was before by a little.

As if reading his mind, Hedwig noted, _"On your current **Difficulty** of **Normal** , your **HP** , **SP** , and **MP** can be replenished relatively quickly by performing healing techniques, consuming foods and drugs, utilizing meditation and sleep, or your natural healing factor. Higher **Difficulty** levels reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of every healing method..."_

"Regardless of what that was, you're dead now, Potter," said the Ditto, a feral smile etched into its stony face. Drool was running out of its mouth as it contemplated him, its head twisting to the side like someone in dire need of an exorcism. And then all of its considerable attention was upon him.

"Shit, shit, shit," said Harry, as he began twisting and ducking, jumping and sliding to escape his imminent death. And he had no doubt that if he died in the confines of his mind-scape, that he would die on the outside as well. Nothing had outright told him this, but it was still something that he seemed subconsciously aware of.

Then the Boy-Who-Lived began to show He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named what his own medicine tasted like. He knew the incantations, the wand-movements, and the internal manipulations required for the spells. Now he just needed to let them fly.

" _Incarcerous_! _Carpe Retractum_!" he shouted, creating magical rope and using it like a whip, but missing his opponent who simply weaved in and out of the near-supersonic strikes. " _Bombarda Maxima_!" caused the ground to erupt into a pile of dirt, making his enemy jump straight into the air.

That crazed Monster was already retaliating in midair, using its supernatural agility to fire off two spells while still in the apex of its flight. Harry frowned as he dodged a purple curse, seeing as it would turn his bone marrow into mud. It led him right into the red one, which would switch his oxygenated blood with hydrogenated blood. He simply parried it away, having not enough time to dodge.

The reason Harry didn't feel like parrying everything the way his opposition was content to, was that it required absolutely perfect timing on the energy release and swipe of the wand. While not impossible, it wasn't something that he was willing to risk his life on. It also only worked on purely magical attacks, as far as he could tell.

He frowned as he dodged another spell, getting fed up with how things were going. He grit his teeth, thinking about a spell that he had only read about. His magic strained to understand what he wanted it to do. "If only I knew a shield spell," he languished under his breath, before he decided to test out one of his newly acquired dueling **Techniques**. He growled out, " _Stupefy_!"

But the wand didn't shoot out in a jet of bright red light, because he didn't let it. He took the ether composing the spell, and started spreading it out in front of him. It took all of his concentration, but he was forming a tiny shield of sorts, one that could take moderate spell damage before exploding on him. Using his insane reflexes as a legendary seeker, he blocked the incoming projectiles that the Horcrux was shooting off.

His impromptu shield was doing a good job of absorbing them. **Shape Manipulation** was his new favorite thing. But it was continuously draining **MP** at a noticeable rate. "So simple spell casting was almost negligible, but **Techniques** cost more **MP**?" he asked himself aloud.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled his arm back before chucking the blob of lethally charged ectoplasm. It moved at the speed of a regular spell, just shy of breaking the sound barrier, before it smashed into Voldemort. Or at least, it would have if his opponent weren't smart enough to dodge it.

"Hold still!" shouted Harry angrily, right as his suped up stupefy hit the ground and exploded, a shockwave of stunning energy released and catching his enemy unawares. The Monster froze up, falling over for a brief moment before staggering back to his feet. So it could still affect his opponent, but those shockwaves weren't nearly strong enough to keep him bound.

"Oh shit," said the Boy-Who-Lived as his opponent began firing off a spell every second. He also instinctively knew what each of those spells did, and learned just by watching his opponent how to do them. His spell repertoire was growing exponentially the longer this fight went on. And they all looked really nasty too, the kind that would probably make him wish he were dead instead of whatever it was that they did.

Frowning, he formed another stupefy torpedo-shield thing, his **[ Sharingan]** picking out the trajectories of the hostile curses. Harry launched his spell, before unleashing a slew of Voldemort's own spells right back at him, though not quite as fast. He probably needed to increase his agility before he could do much more than that.

The paralysis wave caught his opponent, as did two very deadly curses. One liquified his bowels, and the other reversed his skin. And just like that, his opponent was on the ground with only a sliver of health left. Deciding to end the fight with the same spell that began his opponent's opening salvo, he pointed his wand at the pathetic thing. " _Avada Kedav_ -"

"Wait," came the creature's pitiful cry.

He blinked and stopped the killing curse, intrigued at just how the Specter was going to try talking his way out of this situation. "And why would I do that? You just told me that you were going to kill me and take over my body. Am I supposed to forgive that kind of shit?" his voice was soft, an edge of steel waiting for permission to behead his enemy.

The horcrux shivered, and said, "Please, have mercy. I beg of you, let me live! I... I'll teach you how to protect yourself! I'll give you all of the knowledge I had in life as a Dark Lord-"

Harry gasped, and saw a menu appear in front of his eyes. It was a dialogue box again, making him think that it would only show up if he had a choice to make that would affect the progression of **The Game**.

* * *

 **Let the Horcrux Live?**

 **Yes  
** **No**

* * *

And so he made his decision, before returning to the world outside his head.

Then he looked down at his hands, his eyes dark. Appearing by his side was Hedwig, who apparently phoenix-flashed out of danger earlier. Hence the white flames, rather than cries of her death knell. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, and the other people around the house were finally beginning to wake up. It didn't matter to him though. He was still trying to figure out why he did what he did.

All of the knowledge of the Dark Lord, right in front of him at his every beck and call... and he turned around and murdered the creature willing to give it to him.

He had a feeling that it would have tried to manipulate him in some way, or even outright possess him again if he ever gave it the chance. Hells, even the knowledge that it claimed to be able to give him had been sketchy at best. But at the same time, it was apparently a life, and he had extinguished it from existence. But then again, how many lives had Voldemort taken over the years?

Too many to count, probably.

Knowing that he was feeling shitty about killing a living thing, a being that wore his face no less, Hedwig sat by his side and began to trill. It was a song that transcended time and space, love and hatred, good and evil. It was fire, and it was power, and it was passion, and it was cleansing. He let out a deep breath, wondering how his entire situation came about. And then it hit him.

* * *

 **Objective Complete: Kill the Horcrux  
Completion Reward: New ****Perk; New Skill; 50 EXP  
Current EXP: (50/100)**

* * *

He blinked at that latest perk, wondering just what that meant. He knew, through various primary and secondary sources, that dark magic tended to have a strange effect on its practitioners. It warped their minds, bodies, and souls into they were barely recognizable to their former selves. He wondered if somehow, deep down, they were still themselves but trapped behind layers of dark magic.

The thought of something along those lines happening to him was somewhat terrifying, but now he could essentially practice the art with personal impunity. Of course, if anybody caught wind of him doing so he'd probably end up in a lot of trouble anyway, but that was beside the point. He probably wasn't going to go that route unless he absolutely had to. Frowning, he looked at his updated **Skills** page.

He was incredibly curious about what exactly went into using the **Mind Arts** , but something told him that it would be more difficult to learn than anything else he already had. Perhaps it was because it just sounded full of abstracts, but he just felt like he needed to place all of his **Skill Points** into that one as soon as possible.

Closing all the menus, Harry suddenly felt very sleepy. Yawning, he was about to take a much needed nap. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, Uncle Vernon decided to yell up at him, "Boy, where the Hell are you?! You've got chores that need to be done before you can eat breakfast!"

Breakfast. Food. The thought forcibly reminded Harry that he hadn't actually eaten anything yet, and now the Dursley clan was actually awake so he wouldn't be able to sneak anything into his stomach.

Harry sighed dejectedly and stood up, but Hedwig mentally projected, _"If it's a matter of needing food or sleep, you could always get a house elf to take care of you. I specifically remember a certain one that would gladly help you out if you were to hole up in your bedroom until the Weasleys are an available escape."_

The thought brought Harry up short, and he tilted his head to the side. Would it be morally sound to ask for the help of one that he himself saved from a life of indefinite indentured servitude?

 _"I suppose I could give it a shot. How would I go about getting Dobby here?"_ asked Harry. Now that he was back at the house, it really didn't seem like a viable option to send the house elf a letter with Hedwig, at least not while the Dursley clan was actually awake.

He could only imagine the expressions on their faces when he described that he was sending an owl to a magical creature and inviting it into their house so that he wouldn't have to do chores for food and sleep. He imagined Vernon's face would turn a lovely shade of purple, complete with a pulsating vein running through his forehead.

 _"Just call out his name,"_ answered Hedwig. The simplicity of the answer made Harry almost blush. He'd been thinking that it would require some ultra difficult ritual to summon Dobby or something equally outlandish, and now hung his head in slight shame for a brief moment.

 _"Dobby?"_

 _"Out loud, you idiot,"_ berated the insubstantial phoenix. Hedwig was beginning to worry if Harry was going through a slight rebound effect. For a short while he seemed to be growing intellectually before his very eyes. But now, it seemed like Harry's new-found intellect was being withdrawn quite suddenly, with interest. Perhaps these fluctuations would calm down in the future, but it was a source of both annoyance and amusement to the bird.

 _"I knew that. I was just testing to see if you knew that... Well, here goes nothing,"_ replied Harry. "Dobby?" he called out quietly.

With a very audible crack, most likely a sonic boom that Harry wasn't going to even begin to try and rationalize with his mediocre knowledge of the laws of physics, a short humanoid appeared in the center of Harry's bedroom.

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: The Unforgettable Summer**

 **Objective 1: Acquire Dobby's Services**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 1,000 EXP**

* * *

"Mr. Harry Potter sir has called upon Dobby! Dobby is very pleased!" said the excited house elf, hopping up and down. He noticed that the deranged creature was wearing mismatching clothes of all sorts, but didn't want to waste time commenting on Dobby's odd sense of fashion.

"Dobby, can you provide me with food and clean this house for me?" he asked softly.

The elf looked like it was just about to explode from sheer happiness. "Yes Mister Harry Potter Sir, of course Dobby can. Dobby is a good elf, and good elves help their friends!" Again, the little house elf seemed way too happy for Harry's liking, but he'd stomach it if it got him out of doing chores.

* * *

 **Secret Sub-Objective Completed: Ignore Your Chores  
Quest Completed: Tutorial  
Completion Reward: 100 EXP  
Current Experience: 150/100**

 **Level Up!  
Current Level: 1**

* * *

"Boy, it's time for you to do your chores! I want you to dust, vacuum, and mop the whole house, take all the trash out, do everyone's laundry, mow the lawn, pull weeds, trim our hedges, wash our cars, and repaint the parts of the fence that need touching up! Until then, you won't get any food!" screamed up Vernon, before he began stomping up the stairs. Groaning, Harry looked pleadingly at Dobby.

Dobby smiled and said, "You is already my master. You always was, Mister Harry Potter Sir." The house elf nodded and disappeared in another pop, which set off even further shouting throughout the house, but he didn't respond to any of it. Sighing, he laid down on his bed happily.

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Acquire Dobby's Services  
** **Objective Unlocked: Move Out of the Dursley House**

* * *

He began making a mental list of all the ways he could screw with his family. Sabotaging their utilities and furniture seemed like a good route to go, considering how much they craved material possessions, but it would have to be small things over time. He could get Dudley expelled from Smeltings and Vernon fired from Grunnings, and as for Petunia... He could always pretend to care for her in case Voldemort wanted to use somebody against him for leverage.

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: A Black Comedy**  
 **Objective 1: Contact Sirius Black**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: New Safe-House; 150 EXP**

 **Quest Unlocked: The Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt**  
 **Objective 1: Discover What Horcruxes Are**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 1,000,000 EXP; ?**

* * *

Harry blanched at the reward for the **Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt** , but promptly accepted both **Quests**.

And then he remembered something very important. His **Ability** **[ Fiction Integration]** required one **Level Up** to recharge.

* * *

 **Active Quests :  
**

 **A Black Comedy  
The Unforgettable Summer  
Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt**

 **Updated Player Data :**

 **Level: 1**  
 **Experience: 50/150**

 **Atrributes :**

 **Luck (4)**

 **Abilities :**

 **Fiction Adaption (+1)**

 **Perks :**

 **Amalgam Soul:** The User Is Not Tainted By the Usage of Dark Magic; Gained After Absorbing Voldemort's Horcrux

 **Skills :**

 **Elemental Manipulation  
Shape Manipulation  
Observation  
Occlumency**

 **Techniques :**

 **Magic Dueling Techniques**

 **Magical Ricochet** (0/5): Allows the Caster's Spell to Rebound Off Solid Surfaces  
 **Trajectory Bending** (0/5): Allows the Caster to Change Their Spell's Velocity Mid-Flight  
 **Effect Layering** (1/5): Allows the Caster to Combine Multiple Spell Effects Into One Spell  
 **Wanded Parry** (0/5): Allows the Caster to Parry Hostile Spells  
 **Effect Amplification** (1/5): Allows the Caster to Increase the Power of Spells  
 **Incantation Chaining** (0/5): Allows the Caster to Quickly Cast Combinations of Spells

 **Occlumency Techniques**

 **Meditation  
Mental Organization**


	4. Act One: Introduction Part 1

**Act One: Introduction Part 1  
**

* * *

 **(France)**

Sirius Orion Black was sitting quietly on his hotel's balcony, overlooking a French beach. He was just taking in everything around him. He deserved a vacation after all the shit he'd been through over the years. He let his eyes wander over the buxom women, taking in their scantily clad forms but wary to was over ten years out of the game, and his good looks were long behind him. There was a touch of bitterness deep down, but he quashed it and continued his people gazing.

Without any warning, a burst of white fire erupted over his head. He almost shouted, if not for the letter that fell out of the unnatural conflagration. The envelope was lightly singed, and made out of paper rather than parchment. It was addressed to him, which he assumed as soon as it appeared, but it was nice to know that whoever was capable of this impressive bit of magic was being civil.

He almost thought it was Dumbledore using Fawkes to deliver a letter, but Fawkes used normal flames. And these were almost too bright to even look at, for the brief moment that they existed.

Shrugging indifferently, the escaped convict ripped open the letter and began to read:

* * *

 _Dear Padfoot,_

 _So I know it hasn't been too long since last we spoke, but I feel like I need to talk to you about something. You might not believe me, because this shit is honestly just that insane. I assure you that I'm going to be telling you the truth, no matter how farfetched it may sound. But I want to do so in person, face to face. Whenever you're ready to come to me, light the letter on fire. It will transport you to my aunt and uncle's house. I hope to see you soon._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Harry_

* * *

The man reread the letter a few times, blinking in consternation at the paper. He was trying to figure out what his godson meant, or even if there was any clues hinting at what this could all be about. He frowned and got ready for the day, trying to take the grizzly and sallow appearance that his stint in Azkaban left him with. After grabbing a few things that might help his godson relieve some stress, he took out his lighter and lit the paper on fire. He wasn't sure if this would actually work, but he had no reason to not believe his best friend's son.

And without further ado, the paper was engulfed in white flames, which soon expanded to include Sirius himself. It was odd because it didn't burn him, or at least it didn't hurt him in any case. Then the flames of his existence went out in France and and blazed up in Britain.

* * *

 **(Britain)**

In fact, he appeared about four feet above Harry, who was laying on his bed. The man crashed on top of the boy, making both groan.

* * *

 **Objective Complete: Contact Sirius Black  
** **Objective Unlocked: Rendezvous With Sirius  
** **Objective Complete: Rendezvous With Sirius  
** **Objective Unlocked: Go to House of Black**

* * *

"Hi Harry," said Sirius bemusedly, not sure how to react to the somewhat violet form of transportation that his godson appeared to control now. "Is there a reason that I appeared the way I did?"

"Hey Sirius," responded Harry, who then turned an accusatory glare over to his pet. "Why?"

The bird just shrugged. Black blinked at it and said, "Did that phoenix just shrug at you?" A few more seconds, "Bloody Hell, is that a phoenix?"

A nod. "Yep. Hedwig ascended from a snowy owl to a white phoenix," answered the younger wizard. "I don't know how, but it just happened. And honestly, that's not even the weirdest thing that I've had happen to me today, to be honest"

"Huh," was all the animagus said to that. Sometimes living in a world filled with spellcraft could just destroy the curiosity and innocence of a person. Honestly, he'd seen some pretty strange things over the years, so while this was a pretty strange moment, it didn't register with him as _particularly_ odd; things like this tended to happen around his godson.

"D'you wanna get off me?" asked Harry. The man nodded and rolled off, sitting on the edge of the bed and looking around the room, taking in the sights. He noticed that there was a distinct lack of decoration, and that it had the bare minimum amount of furniture to begin with. Deciding not to look too much into it, the man turned his attention to the boy.

"So now you've got a phoenix, huh? Well, I'd be a lot more bloody surprised if you weren't who you were," said the avenger. "Ya know, when you said that you didn't go looking for trouble and it just followed you around, I thought you were joking. Now though..." They continued looking at each other, before the man remembered, "So what did you wanna talk about?"

Harry let out a breath, wondering just how he should put this. He put a lot of thought into just what he was going to tell the people around him. No magic user was ever going to understand what he meant when he said that his life was a roleplaying videogame now, and nobody that truly comprehended what that'd mean would probably believe him. So, he was going to just skip over that part, because it would be more trouble than it was worth.

"Hedwig found something deep inside me. It was a remnant of Voldemort, from that first night when he ruined my life," said Harry. He blinked before adding, "And yours, I suppose." The small addition was made softly, and they both sat there in companionable silence, thinking futilely about how life would be different had Tom Riddle never been born.

"... What was it?" asked Sirius after a short while.

Harry sighed, hoping that his godfather would be willing to give him some answers. "I entered my mind-scape, Hedwig appearing with me because apparently she can just do that now. In there I came across an evil copy of myself. It claimed to be Voldemort's final horcrux, but I don't know what that means. We fought, and I defeated it, and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. A weight I never knew about," he explained softly.

The man furrowed his brow in concentration. "I believe that I've come across that term, horcrux, before. I don't remember where, but I'm sure I know where we can find out," he spoke after a few minutes. There was a pregnant pause before he added, "I also think we should tell Dumbledore; he'd know what to do."

The escaped convict wasn't about to mention how his faith in the old man was resolutely shaken, how the wizened old sorcerer hadn't even thought to come look for him. He wasn't given a trial, because nobody cared to look into it. He was shunted off into the darkest corners of everybody's minds, the darkest corners of the legal system, and the darkest corners of Azkaban. There would be a reckoning for that, but not while Harry was around.

The boy was still impressionable, and he didn't want to give him the wrong impression.

Harry nodded, and began writing another letter, this one much lengthier and more detailed than the one he wrote Sirius. "Hedwig, could you deliver another letter, this one to Albus Dumbledore?" The creature nodded, and the letter disappeared in another burst of pearlescent flames. With that taken care of, Harry turned to his would-be guardian and smiled.

"So how about we go to my ancestral home?" asked the godfather, pulling out a joint and a lighter since he wouldn't be able to stand that place sober. "That's where our best bet is at finding out what a horcrux is..."

* * *

 **(Hogwarts)**

Albus Dumbledore sat before an assembly of the school's staff, "I called you all here to let you know about some changes that are going to happen next year. Due to the reinstatement of the Triwizard Tournament, I have taken it upon myself to enact some educational reform." This statement was mostly met with nods from the good teachers and grumbles from Snape.

"What kinds of changes?" asked Sprout. As the Head of Hufflepuff, she was incredibly sociable and enjoyed trying new things (this attitude was one of the reasons that the Badgers were known as party animals behind locked doors).

"I have hired a Head of Security, the Man-At-Arms of the castle, if you will," he said, eliciting surprised mutterings from the various professors. While he would normally trust the ancient wards protecting Hogwarts that the Founders themselves deployed, he believed there should be a human element involved too, if only to supervise the wards while so many unknowns were admitted onto the school grounds.

"I doubt such a thing should be necessary," said Sinistra, the beautiful astronomy professor voicing aloud what many of the others were probably thinking, a coy smile on her face. She was of the opinion, like many of her Slytherin contemporaries, that Dumbledore was beginning to lose his edge in old age, but she was much more subtle with her digs.

"Now, this is probably more a deterrent to foreign troublemakers than anything else," guessed Vector, yet again showing the arithmancy and numerology professor's true intellect. It was a surprise that she was working at Hogwarts instead of the Atlas Academy in Egypt, but nobody bothered to question the humble woman's motivations.

Flitwick picked up where she left off, "They might doubt the veracity of our wards, but I'd rather not deal with the future paperwork if I were the headmaster. This is probably also another temporary change just for the Triwizard Tournament." And here Flitwick came with brutal honesty, both supporting and undermining Dumbledore in so few words.

They all nodded in understanding. Paperwork was the bane of anyone that didn't enjoy bureaucracy.

McGonagall, ever practical, asked, "Who is going to be this Head of Security?" While she was the Deputy Headmistress, that was just in carrying out some of the more trivial matters of the school. Policy changes were above her paygrade for the time being, but Dumbledore was willing to bet that she'd be taking over for him within the next decade.

"Sir Alastor Moody, and I hope you all give him a warm welcome when he officially joins our staff at the end of summer break," said Dumbledore happily, ignoring all the concerned and scandalized looks that his decision garnered. The retired Head Auror was well known for being a bit prickly and paranoid. "He would be here now, but he's inspecting the ground's security systems," the old man added happily.

This got a contemptuous snort from Snape. "I'm sure he'll find something lacking in our wards, even though they're the best in the country," said the moody man, haughtily running a hand through his greasy hair. Or was that a nervous gesture? "I just hope that he isn't as trigger happy around the children, or a negative influence on them for that matter," he added with an almost hidden sneer.

The headmaster just smiled and said, "Ah Severus, that brings me to my next point of interest. You are fired as our potions professor." Everyone gasped. The man in question promptly fell out of his chair, sputtering in confused anger. "... And hired as our new defense against the dark arts professor," continued Dumbledore with an amused twinkle in his eye. Everyone knew he planned it that way, but none of them were about to confront him over it.

Coughing to cover his previous surprise, Snape intoned, "Thank you, Headmaster, it is an honor. But, if I'm the new defense professor, who is going to be teaching potions?" It was, after all, a valid response.

"I've succeeded in convincing Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement, at least for the next year. He will be taking up as our resident Potions Master. I think that he'll be able to add a bit of glamour to the Tournament, don't you all?" said the old sorcerer. Everyone snorted at that, pretty much knowing that the man was going to somehow smooze all three school Champions.

He waited a moment, before continuing, "And now onto the final announcement. I have decided to have combined classes for all four houses, split up only by each year. This means that your class sizes will all be double, and you won't have to teach as many classes. All classrooms are being enlarged even as we speak."

Flitwick nodded happily and said, "I see you're finally taking my suggestion seriously after all these years. What's changed, Albus?"

The sorcerer smiled at one of his oldest friends, "I've decided that we should present a united front as a school. After all, Durmstrang and Beauxbaton will try the divide and conquer route; I don't think we should make it any easier for them." And with that, the meeting came to an end. "Alright, that just about sums up all of next year's major changes. You can all go now. However, I'd like to have a continued chat with the Heads of Houses."

Everyone left except for Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Snape.

They all sat there silently for a moment, wondering what else he had to say to them. " ** _CONSTANT VIGILANCE_**!" roared Alastor Moody as he ripped off his invisibility cloak, his voice enchanted by the **[Sonoros Charm]** to be loud enough to shake the entire west wing of the Gregorian castle.

"Heavens, you scared me," said McGonagall with her hand over her heart. Flitwick was on the ground, having comically fallen out of his chair at the sudden noise. Sprout had let out a shrill scream, before realizing what was happening and devolving into a nervous giggle fit.

"I knew you were there the whole time," said Snape smugly, remembering what he said about Moody earlier. Sprout jovially smacked him upside the back of his head, and everyone chuckled and calmed down. She could get away with damn near anything.

"I asked you all to stay behind because I'm partially reinstating the Order of the Phoenix. As you've all been debriefed, Sirius Black was innocent and framed by Peter Pettigrew. I have reason to believe that the latter has gone back to his old master, and will help him come back to power. The threat is minor at the moment, but I thought you all should know. Hogwarts is a key listening post for the magical world, after all," he explained softly.

At that moment, a flash of white fire lit up the office, catching everyone by surprise again. A slightly singed envelope landed on Dumbledore's desk, right in front of him. It was addressed to A.P.W.B.D. which could only really by the headmaster, whose eyebrows were raised at the unexpected delivery. He recognized the method it moved to, though the coloration was off from his own phoenix's flames.

It appeared that somebody else had a phoenix now, being the first in almost seventy years to attract the powerful phantasmal creature to them. Hastily he opened the letter, not even paying attention to the people around him, his eyes darting over the letter faster than anyone could follow.

* * *

 _Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

 _It's Harry Potter. I just wanted to let you know that my owl Hedwig just ascended into a phoenix. Also, she destroyed something inside me that was apparently Voldemort's final horcrux, though I'm not sure what that means. I wrote Sirius and asked him if he knew anything about them, and he said he might've come across it before. We're going to research this, because anything to do with Voldemort needs to be looked into._

 _Sincerely,_  
 _Harry James Potter_

* * *

The old man blanched at the words on the paper. He'd had vague suspicions ever since the Chamber of Secrets incident, but they were only unfounded suppositions. To have his deepest and darkest fears confirmed so flippantly in a letter, one that didn't ask for permission to do anything and simply explained Harry's current course of action, made him feel almost sick to his stomach.

Voldemort had multiple horcruxes in the world. The Diary was one, and Harry was another. Now Dumbledore just had to find out how many there were altogether, what each respective item was and their location, and destroy them as completely as possible. Yeah, the Boy-Who-Lived just dropped a freaking bomb on the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

* * *

 **(Grimmauld Place)**

Harry and Sirius all appeared outside Grimmauld Place in a flash of white flames. The plaza they just entered was fairly dark, barely lit by the occasional street lamp, even though it was the middle of the day. Mist was falling from the dark clouds above them, courtesy of the island nation's horrible weather, and the two magic users began their trek to Number Twelve.

They began walking up the stairs leading to the front door, stopping right at the threshold. Sirius's easy hatred of their current location was palpable. Despite that, he withdrew a sinister looking key from his pocket, before unlocking the door with it. A series of clicking and thudding noises emanated from the door, before the black wood swung inward with a creaking groan.

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Go to House of Black  
** **Objective Unlocked: Tame Walburta Black  
** **Objective Unlocked: Tame Kreacher**

* * *

Old, musky air began swirling towards them from the door, and they could visibly see enough dust, dirt, rust, cobwebs, and moving shadows to creep them out. Sirius sarcastically said, "Welcome to my humble abode. Casa de Negro." Harry didn't know why the man just used Spanish, but didn't care enough to ask.

Without further ado, they hurried into the dark entryway, before the door shut behind them of its own accord, essentially trapping them inside. "I will warn you, be very quiet. Nobody's lived in this house for nearly fifteen years, and all sorts of nasty things could've moved in by now. Plus my mother's portrait is here..."

The place was filthy, the furniture was broken, the floor creaked under their feet but their footsteps were muffled by the sheer amount of debris littering the carpet, and the paintings were all scowling in annoyance at them. Harry was glaring right back, but Sirius's eyes were darting around frantically since he didn't have a replacement wand yet.

"Now, because of all the security wards on this place, no external sensors can track us here. You can use magic, so get out your wand. We're probably going to need it," explained the escaped convict. "Like I said, I've got no idea what's in this house now..." A shadow darted through the room, practically proving the man's words on the spot.

Sirius tripped in surprise over a bloodstained cobweb and crashed into a nearby pot, which fell off its shelf and smashed into pieces on the floor. The commotion was quickly followed by some of the most annoyingly shrill screams any of them had ever heard. "MY BLOOD-TRAITOR SON AND A SON OF A MUDBLOOD ARE IN MY HOUSE! KREACHER!"

Sirius groaned and said, "I'd like to introduce you to my bint of a mother, Mrs. Black."

She continued screaming expletives and obscenities at them while awaiting the arrival of her most trusted and loyal servant. Luckily, the house elf wasn't bonded to her any longer, since she was neither alive nor the Head of the Black Family any longer. Thus, Kreacher couldn't be ordered to do anything against Sirius and his traveling companion.

"I can see why you ran away," said Harry softly. "Anyway, where's the library? The sooner we find the book on horcruxes, the better..."

He could see just how much Sirius hated this place, the man was twitching at half-remembered moments from his youth. Harry suddenly wanted to get their business done with as soon as possible, so he didn't have to stay in the place any longer than he needed to, and subject his male role model to this nightmarish place.

"You won't be doing that," came a creepy, gravelly voice. The duo looked up to see, without a doubt, the ugliest house elf Harry had ever had the misfortune to meet. "A blood traitor and a half blood... sullying the House of Black with their dirty feet... oh, what would Mistress think?" Harry blinked at that in consternation, but held his tongue.

Sirius's eyes hardened and he barked, "Kreacher, don't use those words in my presence." Turning to Harry, he explained his stark anger, "This little bugger is one of the reasons I ran away from home, along with my family in general. You can see how horrible they were, to be able to somehow indoctrinate a house elf with their twisted beliefs."

Harry just looked at the elf with sadness. He briefly wondered if all house elves were batshit crazy, or if they were simply the products of their upbringing. From his run-ins with Dobby prior to becoming his Master, Harry still wasn't sure.

The little creature sniffed haughtily. Its dark eyes glinted with malicious glee and muttered, "And it was a good thing, too, when Bad Master left. Mistress said, 'Good Riddance,' because you were a horrible boy and Master Regulus-"

But Sirius had apparently heard enough. "Kreacher," he ground out through gritted teeth, "Shut your filthy mouth and clean this house up. This pigsty is unbecoming of the House of Black." That shut the deranged creature up, apparently being the right thing to say. Apparently it had some pride in it still, though it would try to fight the man's command on the principle of him being a blood-traitor.

The command left no room for misinterpretation or negotiation, simply submission to his master's order. This would be the ultimate test of Sirius's inheritance; chiefly whether he actually became Lord Black or not, since the house elf wouldn't willingly serve Sirius given their history. Kreacher's lips quivered as he tried to stop himself from blabbing, but the house elf was bonded to the Black Family, and Sirius was its Head.

"The..." Kreacher's eyes started bulging, and he began clawing himself with his overgrown nails, "Blood-..." The little humanoid's face scrunched up in pain as it began hyperventilating. It fell onto the ground, hacking and coughing on one knee, pointing one scrunched up finger at Sirius. It began banging its head repeatedly into the disgusting floor, with both onlooking wizards somewhat perturbed by its reaction.

Mrs. Black, in the painting, started cackling maniacally. "STUPID FILTHY MONGRELS! MY KREACHER WOULD NEVER-"

But Harry was in her face, grim determination wafting off him. He noticed that the border of the painting was silver, with emerald snakes coiling then he felt one of his Abilities activate, the one that he gained the night that his parents died. **"You,"** he said in just a harsh, sibilant whisper, **"-are a horrible excuse for a human being."**

Whether the woman understood what he was saying or not, she stopped laughing suddenly and stared at him with wide eyes. "Y-You can s-sp-speak the sn-snake language," she stated, a healthy amount of respect and fear prevalent in her voice. Without giving him a chance to respond, she continued, "And I insulted your traveling companions? I-I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Lord Slytherin!"

* * *

 **Speechcraft Technique Unlocked: Intimidation**

* * *

He stared at her, and tilted his head to the side curiously. This was unexpected, to say the least. He didn't think she'd react so strongly to his using parseltongue, but he wasn't going to look a gift-snake in the mouth. Reverting back to English, he said, "Me and my godfather here," he said as he gestured to the woman's son, "-are here to find a book in your library. You won't be making a commotion to distract us from our goals, will you?"

Kreacher, having long since gotten over his punishment for attempting to defy his rightful master, bounced to Harry with something between fanatic devotion and affectionate obsession. "Kreacher would gladly help the young master," before disappearing in the tell-tale cracking sound of apparition, beginning the process of cleaning starting in the library.

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Tame Walburga**  
 **Completion Reward: Gained Loyalty of Black Paintings**

 **Objective Completed: Tame Kreacher**  
 **Completion Reward: Kreacher (House Elf)**

 **Quest Completed: A Black Comedy  
Completion Reward: 150 EXP  
Current EXP: (200/150)**

 **Level-Up!  
Current Level: 2  
Current EXP: (50/225)**

* * *

"Well that was a lot easier than I expected it to be," said Sirius. Harry wondered if his increased **Charisma** had anything to do with that.

When they entered the Black Family Library, they noticed that it was significantly more clean than the rest of the house, though it still needed a lot of work. Harry almost gasped at the sheer size of the library though, wondering if it was the largest private library in London, or perhaps even the British Isles.

Sirius smirked and said, "Yeah, my family was full of hoarders, especially for knowledge. There's more dark rituals and black magicks described within our library than any other location in all of the United Kingdom. Voldemort wanted to get his hands on it during the last war, but he was refused direct access to the House of Black. My father, bless his core, tried to play it neutral. I think that's why he was okay with me leaving."

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"I went to live with the Potter clan, a historically light-sided family. I would be opposing Voldemort, while my brother Regulus supported him. That way, no matter which side won the war, the Black family would likely continue on. He was a very shrewd man, my father. I assume that's why he never formally acknowledged my being banished and disowned from the family," explained Sirius softly.

They walked through the decrepit library for a few more minutes in silence, Harry wondering just how they were going to even begin researching something as elusive as a horcrux. He promptly decided to voice his doubts, "Sirius, how are we gonna find what we're looking for? How do you even know if it's here?"

The grim animagus smirked and answered, "We're going to use the Black Luminary." Seeing Harry's blank look, he elaborated, "It lets you search for key words, before bringing up an index. The index will show you which books have information that you're looking for, and even what pages to find your search query on. Most large libraries have them. Hogwarts' is hidden, by Madam Pince but that's not important right now..."

He trailed off as they found what they were looking for, a glowing book on a pedestal in the center of the massive library. Sirius picked up the quill sitting next to it, grit his teeth, and wrote 'horcrux' on the page. Harry watched in confusion, noting that the ink was crimson, almost like _blood_... And that's when he realized that the search query was being carved into his godfather's skin.

"Um..." said Harry, unsure of what to say. It seemed to be a tad on the extreme side to require a sacrifice of blood and pain just to search a library, but Harry was guessing that something else was going on there.

Sirius grinned and answered the unasked question, "This is called a blood-quil. It's tied into the Luminary, so only somebody of the Black bloodline can use it. It also makes it hard for you to forget what you were looking for, which is something of an added bonus..." And as he was speaking, the blood on the page began rearranging itself, showing that there were three results in the entire library.

'Magick Most Evile' and 'the Necronomicon' and 'Eternal Nyte' were what showed up. Now they just needed to find those books in all of the clutter...

Dozens of minutes later, they found what they were looking for. "A horcrux is a powerful object in which a dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality," quoted Sirius.

Harry, reading over his shoulder, read aloud, "Creating one Horcrux gives one the ability to anchor one's own soul to earth if the body is destroyed; the more horcruxes one creates, the closer one is to true immortality. Creating multiple Horcruxes is suggested to be costly to the creator, by both diminishing their humanity and even physically disfiguring them."

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Discover What Horcruxes Are  
** **Objective Unlocked: Find Out How Many There Are**

* * *

"That... sounds really bad," commented Sirius. There was a veritable mountain of ancient tomes, sentient books, and evil scrolls surrounding them. Harry could almost physically feel their malice surrounding them. Considering his godfather's posture, it was probably more noticeable than he thought.

* * *

 **Observation Technique Unlocked: Magic Sensing**

* * *

"I wonder how many Voldemort managed to make..." said Harry, violently shutting down his urge to throw up. Harry had been a horcrux, up until just a few hours ago. There had been a piece of that monster's soul inside him, and that's where his **[ Parseltongue] ****Ability** came from. He let out a long, slow breath.

"He really isn't gone yet, is he?" asked Sirius quietly, thinking much the same thing that Harry was. There was a moment of silence, before the man turned to his godson, "I don't think you should go back to your aunt and uncle's place. You aren't safe there, I don't think."

Harry turned to the man with shining eyes. "Really?"

Sirius eyed the boy, "Really. This house has more than protection and security wards to keep you safe, and we can begin working to make you stronger since you can use magic here without getting into trouble. On top of that, there's probably all sorts of dark creatures scurrying about the house that you can gain some experience too. I know that this might seem like a bit much-"

He was cut off by a massive hug, which he swiftly returned. They held each other for about a minute, before they broke apart and Harry had a conspicuous amount of dust in his eyes. There was another moment of companionable silence, before Harry snapped out of it and called out, "Dobby!"

With a sharp crack of apparition, the fiercely loyal house elf appeared right next to its master. "Master Harry Potter be calling Dobby?" answered the creature, its giant eyes taking in the appearance of both Harry and his companion.

Harry smiled and answered, "Bring all of my magical and mundane things here. We're going to be living here now." And just like that, the elf nodded and disappeared, doing as it was told. Turning back to Sirius, Harry had a dangerous glint to his eye. "Sirius, hand me that blood-quil. It's time to start really studying..."

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Move Out of Dursley House  
** **Objective Unlocked: Go to the Quidditch World Cup** **  
**

* * *

 **Active Quests :  
**

 **The Unforgettable Summer: Go to the Quidditch World Cup  
Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt: Find Out How Many There Are**

 **Updated Player Data :**

 **Level: 2**  
 **Experience: 50/225**

 **Abilities :**

 **Fiction Adaption (+2)**

 **Techniques :**

 **Observation Technique: Magic Sensing  
** **Speechcraft Technique: Intimidation**


	5. Act One: Introduction Part 2

**Act One: Introduction Part Two**

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: A Sirius Conundrum**  
 **Objective 1: Become Fourteen Years Old**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 750 EXP, ?**

* * *

Harry was sitting in the library, alone. The surprisingly large room was much cleaner now that it was a few hours ago, now that there were two house elves working on cleaning up the disgusting House of Black. Exactly how they managed to do it without being seen, Harry wasn't too sure, but he was somewhat jealous of their stealthy abilities.

That's when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Twirling around, there was nothing there. But he knew, for a fact, that he saw something small hovering about around him. He activated his **[ Sharingan]** not willing to let his instincts fail him in a house that was as hostile as this one. He couldn't detect anything, though he didn't let his guard down for several minutes.

And just when he was about to give up and go back to his research, he saw it again. Only this time, he managed to get a good look at it. "What the hells?" he asked the world, watching casually as a golden snitch was flitting across the library at breakneck speeds. His eyes couldn't leave the object alone, constantly tracking the zipping ball.

He tried to ignore it for a few minutes, but it just wouldn't leave his field of vision anymore. The soft humming of its rapidly flapping wings was starting to raise his hackles, dragging his attention away from the precious books that he was reading. With a growl, he twisted over the table and into the air, catching the object more out of **Luck** than anything else.

* * *

 **Congratulations, You Caught a Special Golden Snitch!  
Cheats Are Unlocked Via Catching Special Golden Snitches!  
**

 **Special Golden Snitches Required to Unlock Next Cheat: 10**  
 **Special Golden Snitches Acquired: 1  
**

* * *

"Cheats? That sounds interesting..." he muttered, his emerald eyes going dull at the thought of being able to cheat in **The Game**. The possibilities of what these cheats could be almost taunted his waking mind for that brief moment, but he shook his head and thought back to what he wanted to do.

Harry opened up his menus and looked over everything.

* * *

 **Level 9 Available Perks:**

 **Child At Heart** : Double **Charisma** With Children  
 **Bloody Mess** : +5% Overall Damage and More Graphic Death Animations  
 **Toughness (Rank 1 of 5)** : +10% Damage Resistance Permanently  
 **Strong Back** : +50 Carry Weight  
 **Animal Friend (Rank 1 of 3)** : Hostile Animals Become Friendly

* * *

Harry purchased **Toughness** , then scattered his **Sill Points** around. He idly noticed that **Meditation** was no longer a **Skill** in and of itself, but rather a **Technique** of **[Occlumency]**. He wondered when that happened, but wasn't too bothered by the change.

Sirius was up in his bedroom, tending to Buckbeak. The hypogriff showed up in the middle of the night, causing a bit of commotion with the neighbors. But Harry used his **[Speechcraft]** to make everything work out in the end.

And now he was sitting at a desk, using **[Observation]** on every book around him, hoping to level it up. All he needed to do was concentrate some of his magic into the hand that was touching it, and he instantly knew the book's title, the number of pages it had, how old it was, who the author was, and what it was about. It was a slow and boring process, but it was yielding him **EXP**.

On top of that, the visual prowess of his **[ Sharingan]** allowed him to instantly memorize any page he looked at forever. He was memorizing and comprehending a book every few minutes, on a large range of subjects, growing as a person almost exponentially.

And it all started when he came across the book 'The Art of Seduction'. He'd gotten a prompt, saying, ' **Activate Skill Book?** ' Having nothing better to do, he'd clicked accept and realized that he needed to read the entire thing before he received whatever the reward was. Upon experimenting with his various powers, he read the entire book in about ten minutes. Afterwards, he gained **Seduction** as a **[Speechcraft] Technique**. Then he got a greedy gleam in his eyes.

He began reading at a tremendous rate, picking up **Skill Books** left and right. He gained **[Alchemy]** and **[Dark Arts]** as new **Skills,** and received small bonuses to all of his existing **Skills** for his efforts, even getting some new **Techniques** for a few. And then speaking of new **Techniques** -

* * *

 **Observation Technique Unlocked: Structural Analysis**

* * *

Apparently he was using **[Observation]** so much on inanimate objects that this happened. Trying **Structural Analysis** out on a tome next to him, he found out that it was made of leather, dye, parchment, glue, and ink. Frowning, he tried using both **Skills** at once, but found that he couldn't. But then he came across an **Skill Book** that changed things. From it, he gained two new **Techniques**.

The first was **Thought Acceleration** , which was pretty self-explanatory and actually allowed him to cope with the visual prowess of his **[ Sharingan]**. The second technique was something called **Mental Partition** , and he struggled for dozens of minutes trying to actually use it; apparently discovering **Techniques** from a **Book** made them very difficult to use at first, learning them from his eyes made them mildly difficult, and learning them naturally was the easiest route to take.

He found that he had to divide up his mind-scape; rather than the single 'room', he had to raise partitions that divided it into multiple 'rooms'. So instead of having a single strain of thought going, he had several codependent strains of thought accomplishing different objectives simultaneously to arrive at the same end goal more efficiently. That was the best way to explain it, other than likening his new thought processes to hyper-threading.

He could assign each room a different task as long as they were working together to accomplish something. In this instance, gaining as much information from books as humanly possible. So he began to dual wield **Structural Analysis** and **Magic Sensing** to discover random esoteric facts about the tomes' arcane histories. Along with his already active **[ Sharingan]**, things were starting to get complicated.

For hours on end he read, with Sirius off tending to Buckbeak, only stopping to eat when Dobby fed him some tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. It wasn't until almost half a day later that his MP ran out from overtaxing himself that he finally gave up, noticing that he had a massive headache and migraine. Then his nose started to bleed, and his eyes were almost swollen shut from their went up to his new bedroom (Regulus Black's old room), before plopping down on the bed.

A letter appeared above his head in a flash of orange fire, obviously the work of Fawkes. Which meant that this was from Dumbledore.

* * *

 _Dear Harry,_

 _I cannot stress to you how important it is for you to stay with your relatives. The blood based wards protecting members of that household will fall if your magic isn't around long enough to sustain it year round. Your family is at risk, and so are you. Also with Pettigrew on the loose, I don't think it's very wise for you to allow that protection to fall. Please don't run away with Sirius; things will start getting very complicated if you do._

 _As for horcruxes, I know what they are but I dare not put such information in written form, even if it is being delivered directly to you. Just know that I will work my hardest to combat this new threat that Hedwig unearthed. Speaking of Hedwig, I would very much like to make her acquaintance over the next school year. I think it would be educational, don't you?_

 _Sincerely,_  
 _Albus Dumbledore_

* * *

"Ah, I'm sure the Dursleys will be fine," said Harry, shrugging that particular responsibility off. As for everything else that the old man said, Harry was somewhat uncomfortable with how familiar the man was with him, but otherwise couldn't argue with his logic. Perhaps that was more from a lack of coherent thought than anything else though. He was drained, as were the bars in the upper left-hand side of his vision.

* * *

 **(Several Days Later)**

Harry and Sirius were facing each other, their eyes glinting in the gaslights of the basement. They were standing on opposite sides of a circle drawn on the ground, craters and dents scattered about the room and slowly repairing automatically around them. Both were breathing heavily, having been sparring quite heavily for the better part of an hour. Harry wasn't used to it, and Sirius was out of shape from Azkaban.

"I know what you're going to do before you do it," said Sirius, a mischievous quirk to his mouth.

"Oh?" was all Harry allowed himself to warily say.

The older wizard had a habit of goading him into responding, poking and prodding at Harry. Insults, threats, jibs, jokes, threats, innuendos... the man used everything and anything to unsettle and unbalance Harry. Hell, the escapee even pretended to be fatally wounded once already before kicking Harry in the balls. If there was one thing that Harry was learning from these dueling sessions, it was how to fight dirty.

"Yeah," answered the man. "In fact, I even bet you that I can predict what your twenty-fifth move from now will be. If I win, you have to take Kreacher off my hands and become his new Master. If I lose, then I'll act as your personal house elf for a day; I'll do anything you want and won't complain about it. What do ya say, Bambi?"

He just blinked at the offer, internally scowling at the infuriating nickname, before thinking it over for a few moments. "Deal," was all Harry said, still keeping a careful watch over his treacherous adversary. No matter how hard he tried to convince him, the man still refused to call him anything other than Bambi now that they were comfortable around each other.

"You'll use a Disarming Charm," said Sirius simply. And then he blurred forward, the battle beginning anew as if the brief recess never happened.

Jets and beams of light flashed between them, an iridescent kaleidoscope of curses, jinxes, and hexes brightening the room considerably. There were also verbal jabs being thrown about, mockery of Harry's ideals and relationships, and questioning of Harry's gender and sexual orientation, among other things. The man was almost as bad as Snape, if Harry had to be brutally honest, though he'd never say that to the man's face...

Harry was activating his **[ Sharingan]** in brief spurts, just fast enough to categorize and memorize everything that was thrown at him. That's when he noticed that Sirius was pumping magic throughout his entire body, sort of like how the Horcrux concentrated its magic into one massive reducto during their fight.

* * *

 **Skill Unlocked: Reinforcement**

* * *

Harry blinked in surprise, but didn't allow that to throw him off his game.

There were simple, minor spells being directed at him, mild irritants at best. Things that would reverse his kneecaps and elbows, remove his fingers or swell his tongue, and ropes of binding and lights of stunning. Yet he remembered how quickly such minor ailments could add up very quickly. It hadn't taken him long to figure out Sirius's style: simple annoying spells, combined with verbal jousting.

He was becoming slower to anger and better at noticing deceptions and manipulations, but he'd still fall for some.

" _Expelliarmis_ ," cried out Harry, before wincing upon realizing that he lost the bet (there wasn't anything wrong with Kreacher, he just didn't like giving his immature godfather the satisfaction of winning something). The two fighters came to a stop, one carefully blank faced while the other was grinning deviously. "How?" asked Harry through heavy huffs of air, not even beginning to fathom the phenomenon. He was even beginning to use **[Reinforcement]** as well towards the end.

"You pick up spells quickly, Harry," said the renegade, his sallow face cracking into a satisfied smile. "You're also good at evasion, and controlling your magic. But there's more to fighting than that. You need to be able to control the battle. You're relying on instincts and skill to fight, which are good things to have, but they won't be enough if things really go to shit. You have to learn how to read your enemy, control the pacing of the fight, and maneuver them into doing what you want them to."

The boy tilted his head to the side, silently watching.

The former marauder sighed and said, "You favor evasion, and lean back on parrying as a last resort, completely ignoring shields altogether. If I shoot a spell low, you jump. If I shoot a spell high, you duck. If I shoot it off-center, you side-step it. If there are multiple in rapid succession, you begin parrying as well. You need to learn tactics and strategy, manipulation and control. With a few well placed spells, I can force you to go wherever I want you to."

Harry nodded at that, realizing that he wasn't holding out against Sirius; the man was holding back just to analyze his fighting style and get a point across. He knew how Harry fought, used that knowledge to his advantage, and adapted his moves to control everything about that fight. That was such a higher level of strategy and tactics that Harry had a hard time believing Sirius, the man-child that he was, was capable of such a thing.

Chuckling, Sirius added, "You're a very efficient and effective caster, even controlling surprisingly high-level spells effortlessly, but you need to have a more decisive offense if you're going solo. Otherwise your duels will just become battles of attrition, and you're more a sprinter than a marathon runner, if you catch my drift."

Harry still didn't say anything, his mind racing with thoughts of how he could begin implementing similar complicated stratagems to his burgeoning fighting style. With **Mental Partitions** and the **[ Sharingan]** he should be able to at least match his godfather...

"Now take the little blighter off my hands..." Sirius said.

* * *

 **Companion Unlocked: Kreacher**

* * *

 **(Several Hours Later)**

The boy and innocent man starting working on **[Occlumency]** , sitting on comfortable recliner chairs that the house elves transported into the library from who knows where. Between the massaging, softening, conforming, and heating charms, Harry thought he just discovered his favorite chair in the world. They were angled towards a roaring fireplace with a hint of thyme added to the apple-wood logs, and each other, so that they could enjoy the warmth and still talk to each other.

"We're going to start with your mental defense," began Sirius, taking a hit off a joint as he did so. "But before we can begin planning your defenses, we've gotta map-out your mind-scape in the first place. That whole 'know thyself before thy enemy' spiel is actually important here. And to do that, we've gotta actually find it and build it up. The process is a bit complicated and esoteric..."

It wasn't long until Harry was back in that shadowy world, where the floor was made of holly hardwood. A few minutes later Sirius appeared next to him, surveying the place and seeing the wide radius of destruction that surrounded the spot that Harry and the Horcrux fought. The segments of wall risen out of the ground and cut apart made it fairly apparent.

"So that's where it happened?" he mused aloud. Coughing, he snapped out of his brief reverie and said, "You should repair that before we do anything else. That kind of damage could fester and spread if you're unlucky enough..." So Harry began concentrating very hard on returning the area into a conforming and flat expanse of wood.

Sirius began to look over what Harry already had in place. The **Mental Partition** was represented by a Japanese sliding door and a bamboo wall that had risen out of the floor. Along that wall were many bookshelves, covered in books that represented Harry's accumulated knowledge and memories. But, there was a desk off to the side, with a computer on it.

Whistling in appreciation for his godson's ingenuity, the man exclaimed, "Wow, Harry. When I saw that your mum did something similar, I wasn't too keen on it at first. But I can tell you from firsthand experience that it's a top-notch design, because even Dumbledore couldn't figure out how to access her mind once she began digitizing her thoughts."

Harry stopped at that.

It was beyond genius, it was fucking revolutionary. The Boy-Who-Lived was well aware of how behind the times the magical world was, especially when it came to technological literacy; so the pool of people with the convergent skills to both crack into a person's mind AND work even a commercial computer was shallow to say the least.

Because computers had whole other ways to prevent access to them, things that most wizards would never be able to get around. Harry just let out a breath at the sheer scope of possibilities that he just discovered, wondering how many other people knew about this.

"Anyway, now we're going to begin forming your first shield. Now I'm not expecting much from this, because shields are difficult to create. It takes a lot more willpower and imagination than you'd expect..." began Sirius. "I'll just walk you through the baby steps for now, starting with an **Illusory Shield**. Alright, let's begin. The simplest of shields involve images. Think of static black, and use your magic to actualize it."

Harry did so, and now, the darkness and mistiness of his mind-scape seemed to magnify right at the edge of his perception. And it was beyond creepy, seeing just a solid wall of black nothingness. He shivered, and so did Sirius.

"Right," began the godfather softly, a little perturbed by how quick Harry called up that blackness, "Well, let's upload an 'image' onto that... blank canvas." At Harry's blank look, Sirius explained, "Use either a memory or your imagination. The complexity of the image determines how effective and taxing it'll be. Let's start with something basic and elemental, like fire." He likely chose this element because of Harry's apparent affinity for phoenixes, beings of fire.

At his words, Harry imagined fire and felt the magic channeling into his head, where his sense of self currently resided. So now, instead of a wall of darkness, there was a wall of flames blocking his mind off from the outside world. But these flames weren't right. They were motionless, dimly lit, sepia tone, and not very realistic.

"Humans are very visually based beings," said Sirius, beginning a lecture of sorts. "Because of this, you've got to increase visual potency of your 'image' as much as you can. Did you ever learn about the principles of design?"

"Not really, no."

"Well, the balance, line, contrast, space, emphasis, texture, proportion, size, pattern, color, gradient, shape, composition, and value are all important aspects of your 'image'. You can work on each individually if you need to, and you can take as much time as you need."

"Will we even have enough time?" asked Harry, beads of sweat rolling down his face from the mental exertion he was putting himself under. Even as he spoke, his fire was becoming more realistic and immersive. "Besides, what's the importance of visual potency, beyond us just being visually oriented? Why are we trying to fool our enemies' strongest senses anyway? Wouldn't it be easier for them to spot any mistakes we make?"

The man blinked and smiled, "Your mother asked some of those very same questions, but she wasn't as polite about it. Well, to start it off, if you can fool the senses that somebody relies upon the most, then they are completely fooled. It's something of a gambit, but its a major windfall if it works correctly."

"How so?"

"Our see, our minds and bodies are inherently linked together, aren't they? So, whatever harm may befall you in the astral plane also befalls your body in the physical plane. So, if we could trick their brains into thinking the fire was real, if only for a moment, then their brain will allow them to get burnt by their own expectations formed by various associations and relationships between fire, heat, and burning. And if they get burnt in your mind-scape..."

"They get burnt in real life," breathed Harry, thinking it over.

Magic was a very odd thing to try rationalizing, he found. In fact, it worked more off of how various magi seemed to think that the world should work, as opposed to how the world actually worked. It was a subjective and personal force based on their unique perceptions of reality, and yet the effect was objective and universal based on scientific notions of reality at the same time since effects could be repeated. It just made his head hurt.

That pain must have transferred over to the flames, because they became a lot more realistic.

"Good, you've figured out how to make a rudimentary shield that utilizes all five senses. Now, that was a very basic defense, and its rather fragile if I do say so myself. For now, you should be proud having the single flimsy layer that you do. Alright, we get to begin with the more complicated parts of mental defenses!" exclaimed Sirius excitedly.

Harry groaned and said, "That was incredibly exhausting! And that was _easy_? Are you insane? There's no way that all that hard work created something so weak. You just can't be serious." The amount of effort that he'd put into erecting his shield was insane, requiring more concentration than any other feat of magic that he'd achieved at any point in his life prior to it.

Sirius smiled and said, "Oh? I bet I could tear through that shield in milliseconds. And I bet you would go insane trying to get through the layers of my mental defense." The way he said that, so snidely, made Harry twitch. Something told him that the escaped convict, a man that was constantly subjected to the constant cold and ubiquitous darkness and never-ending hunger and rampant madness of Azkaban for over a decade, was a bit above his level at the moment.

Harry paled and said, "You know what, I think I really enjoyed this lesson so far. Let's continue as quickly as possible..."

And so Harry's days went by, becoming weeks. He was constantly working at gaining new and improving old **Techniques** and **Skills**. He was finally going to spend a day resting, instead of constantly working. Just as the clock struck midnight, he muttered, "Happy Birthday, Harry." It had already been thirty days since he gained this new perspective on reality.

* * *

 **Information:**

 **Name:** Harry Potter  
 **Age:** 14  
 **Level:** 9 **  
Experience:** 2500/3000  
 **Title:** Boy-Who-Lived  
 **Class:** Wand-Wizard  
 **Affiliation:** Hogwarts **  
Alignment:** Neutral

* * *

 **Active Quests:**

 **A Sirius Conundrum: Become Fourteen Years Old  
The Unforgettable Summer: Go to the World Cup  
Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt: Find Out How Many There Are**

* * *

 **Atrributes:**

 **Strength** (3)  
 **Perception** (5)  
 **Endurance** (2)  
 **Charisma** (3)  
 **Intelligence** (5)  
 **Agility** (6)  
 **Wisdom** (5)  
 **Luck** (4)

* * *

 **Abilities**

 **Parseltongue**  
 **Fiction Adaption (+1)**  
 **Sharingan**

* * *

 **Perks**

 **Wand-Wizard Class Trait**  
 **Gamer Perspective**  
 **Corrupted Blood  
Lady Killer  
Comprehension  
Amalgam Soul  
Toughness  
**

* * *

 **Skills:**

 **General**

 **Household Management** (0/100): (Child-rearing; Cleaning; Cooking; Gardening)  
 **Observation** (15/100): (Magic Sensing; Structural Analysis)  
 **Riding** (0/100)  
 **Speechcraft** (15/100): (Intimidation; Seduction)  
 **Stealth Arts** (20/100): (Lockpicking; Pickpocket; Sneaking)  
 **Sword Arts** (0/100)

 **Nasu-Verse:**

 **Alchemy** (10/100): Changing One Substance to Another  
 ***Mind Spells*** (20/100): Supplemental Mental Techniques (Memory Manipulation; Mental Partition; Thought Acceleration;)  
 **Reinforcement** (10/100): Using Magic to 'Reinforce' An Object, Improving It

 **Rowling-Verse:**

 **Care For Magical Creatures** (10/100) **  
Charms** (10/100) **  
Dark Arts** (5/100)  
 **Herbology** (15/100) **  
*Magic Dueling*** (59/100) **:** (Amplification; Bending; Chaining; Layering; Parrying; Ricochet) **  
*Occlumency*** (26/100) **:** (Meditation; Netting; Organization; Shielding) **  
Potioneering** (5/100) **  
Transfiguration** (10/100)

 **Kishi-Verse:**

 **Elemental Manipulation** (0/100) **  
Shape Manipulation** (5/100)

* * *

 **Special Golden Snitches: 1/10**


	6. Act One: Quidditch World Cup Part 1

**Act One: Quidditch World Cup Part 1**

* * *

 **(Present: Day of the World Cup)**

Harry smashed the alarm clock next to his bed, gritting his teeth at the dubstep it was blaring (he forced Bass Cannon by Flux Pavilion on himself because it was a quick way to wake him up). He mumbled incoherent curse words as he rolled out of bed, stretching and groaning at all the popping his back did. Dobby appeared in the room and initiated his morning ritual: the house elf clipped his nails, shaved his unwanted hairs, and threw all the waste in a nearby trash can.

He was quickly put through a shower, where he had shampoo and conditioner worked automatically into his hair, and body wash magically scrubbed into his skin before it was all rinsed off. He exited the shower and was instantly dried off, his hair actually getting styled in the process. He opened his mouth and was subject to an intense toothbrushing and mouthwashing, before he spat into the sink. Then he was clothed in casual mundane garb of jeans and a t-shirt, and on his way.

"Gotta love house elves," said Harry smugly as he entered the kitchen.

Kreacher handed him a bowl of yogurt and a plate of scones, with a cup of french roast coffee. "Master's diet supplements are worked into the meal," said the much happier elf. The little bugger was whistling as he bustled about the kitchen, cooking and cleaning just shy of the speed of sound.

Harry nodded gratefully at that, since those potions tasted like shit by themselves. He'd started taking them just after his birthday, and he was already recovering from the life of malnutrition, insomnia, and being overworked he endured at the Dursley abode. The young wizard was now just as tall as his friend Ron, though a bit more muscular with the crazy workout regiment that he and Sirius were on.

Speaking of Sirius, that sly old dog was sitting on the stool next to him, a happy grin on his face. "It's hard to believe that Kreacher has a nice bone in his body. You really do bring out the best in anyone, Bambi." Harry, upon hearing that cursed nickname, automatically grabbed the nearest knife and jammed it into his godfather's foreleg. Or at least, he tried to.

The man somehow saw it coming and redirected it into the boy's ribcage. "Ouch," muttered Harry, surveying the damage of his perforated abdomen. Living in a constant warzone with a prankster and actual war veteran really lowered his inhibitions towards violence, while simultaneously raising his resistance to pain. Plus, he got a shitload of **EXP** from this, so it was fine by him.

"Kreacher-"

"Yes, Master Harry."

Without even looking, the elf removed the knife, regenerated the broken skin, erased all of the blood, and repaired Harry's shirt. Then the small humanoid turned towards its two childish masters and sighed reproachfully. They both wordlessly, and without making eye contact, pointed at each other. Kreacher just shook his head in mild exasperation before going back to his duties.

It'd been almost two months since they moved in to Grimmauld Place, and several weeks since Harry's fourteenth birthday and the fiasco that went along with that.

* * *

 ** _(Past: Harry's Fourteenth Birthday)_**

 ** _Objective Completed: Become Fourteen Years Old_**  
 ** _Completion Reward: 50 EXP_**

 ** _Objective Unlocked: Talk to Sirius About Your Inheritance_**

* * *

 _"Sirius, what do you know about my inheritance?" he asked, completely out of left field._

 _"Ah, I was wondering when you were gonna bring it up," said Sirius thoughtfully, in between bites of the scrambled eggs and siracha that the house elves prepared. "Well it's ancient tradition that the Heir to a Most Ancient House becomes their clan's Scion on the day they turn fourteen years old. You are the Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and today you're also the Scion. This means that you may now sit in on Wizengamot proceedings though you still can't actively participate until you're seventeen. It also means that you can access your Familial Estates and Vaults now," answered the man._

 _"Oh," responded Harry. That explained the **Quest Objectives** , but not its title. How did Sirius tie into all of this? "I suppose that explains that," he added softly. He'd had no idea, and nobody saw fit to tell him. It wasn't anybody's responsibility to tell him, so he couldn't really be mad at anyone, but surely one of his friends or the varied authority figures in his life would have told him._

 _"Before you go, you should go to the Wizengamot Administration Services in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic for a Bloodline Patent, which will tell you all of the families that you have claims and ties to." Harry looked at him curiously, so Sirius added, "The goblins don't like wizarding wealth to leave their walls, and won't give you anything unless you specifically ask for it, and you'll need authentic proof too. When d'you wanna go?" asked the man, watching his godson closely. He wouldn't be able to accompany him directly..._

* * *

 ** _Objective Completed: Talk to Sirius About Your Inheritance  
Completion Reward: 50 EXP_**

 ** _Objective Unlocked: Receive a Bloodline Patent_**

 ** _Level Up! Current Level: 8_**

* * *

 _Frowning in thought, the boy didn't immediately answer. He took another bite of his pseudo-Asian breakfast, his eyes glazed while his thoughts were far away. "As early as possible." He didn't know exactly how this **Quest** would end, but surely it would have a nice enough reward._

* * *

 **(Present: Day of the World Cup)**

Really, if they weren't happily trying to murder each other, the elves of the house might have started getting worried; that's just the state of their typical behavior while in the House of Black.

Harry pouted at Sirius, "You cheated."

The godfather shrugged, "Marauder."

"Asshole," the godson granted.

The escaped convict merely smirked, before turning his attention to the Daily Prophet that sat opened between them. "So you're sitting in the Top Box with the Ministry's top dogs, a bunch of foreign diplomats, the Malfoys, and the Weasleys? This is a memory that you'll need to put in the pensieve," he said, his Black eyes twinkling with mischief at the thought.

Harry just smirked, "And don't forget Hermione." Speaking of whom, she'd probably be very interested in the Black family pensieve stowed away in their shadowy library.

The man let out a soft bark of laughter, "As if."

The two sat in silence, allowing the tranquility of morning to pervade their lives. That is, until a loud crash sounded from the foyer. Walburga Black began to sing classical opera at a volume that'd put a jet engine to shame. They heard a woman cursing heavily at the painting, though the words were drowned out by the 18th century Austrian lyrics. There was a small explosion, causing _even more_ dust to fall off the ceiling and disappear before it got near their food courtesy of Kreacher's vigil.

The two men of the house shared a glance and smirk in eerie synchronous motions, before returning innocently to their breakfasts. Then a stunning woman entered the room, though she was in cute polar bear pajamas and her bright pink hair seemed a bit nappy. Her eyes were half-lidded, with tiny bags digging into her cheeks, and she stumbled over to the nearest stool.

"Ugh," she groaned, slumping as soon as her shapely rear touched the cushion.

"You don't look to good, cousin dearest," sniped Sirius, an unholy twinkle in his Black eyes. "Perhaps you shouldn't drink on the job?"

Tonks grit her teeth and leveled a baleful glare at the insufferable man. "I hate you, Sirius. I hate you _so_ much."

Ignoring that, the escapee quipped, "And on the very first night of your top-secret assignment too. I wonder what Chief Bones would think-"

The metamorphmagus threw her cup of steaming coffee at him, but it was lazily returned to her via elf-magic. "I don't think she was _quite_ aware of the specifics of the situation, do you? Perhaps I should enlighten her..." came her supple threat. The animagus retreated with hands in an 'I surrender' position, though the twinkling in his eyes seemed to intensify.

Harry patted her hand, "It's okay, Tonks. That damned gleam in his eyes... I know how you feel." She nodded and their eyes met for a brief moment. He whispered, "We'll get him back, together..." They nodded their heads in unison, returning to the problem at hand.

She leveled an accusatory finger at the man, "You're lucky that Dumbledore asked to hold onto my wand before we stepped foot inside this place. You might not've gotten a chance to explain yourself."

Seriously, when she saw the escaped convict that was bringing the infamous Black family name back into the spotlight and shame upon both her mother and herself, she was almost foaming at the mouth to get to him. But then she learned the truth of that night, of the betrayal and the tragic handling of Sirius's case. That crafty old man kept everything from spinning out of control before it even began.

"I still can't believe that you're an auror. It feels like it was only yesterday that you were a sweet little kid that kept changing her nose into a pig snout or elephant trunk. Though, I suppose a decade of Azkaban will eat away at your memories," said Sirius, going from cheery to somber super fast. Turning away from the mood-killer, the other two humans finally got around to introductions, which were eclipsed by the bombshell revelations of the previous night.

"So you're my secret auror bodyguard," said Harry to his distant cousin.

Her ability to change appearance at will would make her perfect for clandestine and covert operations, so it made sense that somebody like her would be placed in the position that she was. And the fact that she was ultimately loyal to Dumbledore over the Ministry made allowed him some measure of trust in her. But, and this was important, she was also acting as the old man's eyes while he was outside of school, and thus represented a further restriction of his freedom.

"And you're an endangered national treasure," she sarcastically responded. She worked her ass off to get through the auror corps, becoming the youngest graduate and subsequent protege that Moody ever took on, and her job was to protect him from a backstabbing mass murderer that recently became a fugitive of an inescapable magical prison... who was currently eating a bowl of honey nut cheerios with bananas and milk, skulking at being ignored no less than five feet away from her.

Harry shrugged at that, "Dumbledore did it. For what it's worth though, I really am sorry that you're just my glorified babysitter. Perhaps I'll get into the usual sticky mess at school, and that'll give you something to do." After all, she was his bodyguard indefinitely, until Sirius was either apprehended, terminated, or proven innocent.

Huffing, Tonks began eating her blueberry pancakes without another word. At least she was getting paid six figures for this... _job_. Although, working with Harry Potter of all people should prove to be interesting, if nothing else.

* * *

 ** _(Past: Harry's Fourteenth Birthday)_**

 _Harry stood before the dilapidated telephone booth, feeling somewhat foolish."This is the visitor's entrance to the Ministry of Magic?" he asked aloud, rhetorically. Whether the question was for himself or the world at large, even he didn't know. The graffiti on the crumbling wall behind the booth really didn't give off a very good impression either._

 _He was under his_ **Invisibility Cloak** _, because something told him that showing up at the seat of all political power in the British wizarding world alone would be a bad idea. Having just arrived via phoenix-flash in a predominately mundane part of London, it was also necessary so no muggles would notice him either. Its stats were inscrutable to him, although he did notice that his **Stealth Arts** skill was grayed out._

 _Entering the faded red booth, Harry screwed his eyes shut to remember the number, ignoring the missing panes of glass as well. He dialed 62442, before a cool female voice surrounded him, "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." Since he was totally invisible, he assumed that this was an automatic response (the implications of which intrigued him)._

 _"... Harry Potter. I'm here for a Bloodline Patent," he answered uncertainly._

 _"Thank you. Visitor, please take the badge and attach it to the front of your robes," came the voice's reply. At her words, a badge fell out of the coin dispenser. It read_ Harry Potter, Bloodline Patent _. He pinned it to his shirt. "Visitor to the Ministry, you are required to submit to a search and present your wand for registration at the security desk, which is located at the far end of the Atrium."_

 _The telephone booth turned out to be an elevator, which began descending below the street level. After some golden light, the voice added, "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a pleasant day," just as the telephone box's door sprang open. The Atrium appeared to be a long hall of dark wood, golden fireplaces, and a blue ceiling. At the midway point was the fountain of golden statues, elevating humans above their magical brethren._

 _Harry temporarily pocketed his cloak, since he'd need to interact with the security guard to get any further._

 _At the security desk, Harry was frisked by a badly-shaven wizard wearing robes matching the ceiling. The man, whose eyes never left the Daily Prophet that was in his free hand, placed Harry's wand on a brass instrument, which vibrated and printed off a slip of parchment. "Eleven inches, phoenix-feather core, been in use for three years. Is this right?" said the man, not paying too much attention to Harry._

 _"Yeah," answered the Boy-Who-Lived. And just like that, he was free to go. Putting his cloak back on, he moved among the hustle and bustle of government employees, ghosting through the crowd of suitcases and piles of parchment. Soon he arrived at a small hall filled with a couple dozen elevators behind golden grilles. He road it for an indeterminable amount of time, down to Level Two, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement._

 _Following the signs, he arrived at the waiting area for the Office of Wizengamot Administration Services, and removed his cloak. "Hello?" he called out._

 _A somewhat familiar redhead poked her head out from behind the marble counter. "Potter?" asked his voluptuous Hufflepuff peer. "What are you doing here?" Then she realized how unprofessional that sounded, and blushed. "Sorry, I'm just a bit surprised that you're here. What can we do for you?"_

 _"Ah, I was hoping to get a Bloodline Patent done. Er, what are you doing here, Bones?" Harry replied._

 _Susan Bones smiled shyly, "My Aunt Amelia is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I've got an unpaid internship here as Madam Pippin's secretary, along with my friend Hannah Abbot. We switch shifts every other day..." Then she blinked and remembered why he was there in the first place. "But back to business: If you'll just sit there for a few minutes, I'm sure I can squeeze you into the day's schedule..."_

 _Guiltily, Harry realized that he should have set up an appointment ahead of time. But, it wasn't like he even knew about it before today, so he cut himself some slack._

 _As he sat down in the slightly uncomfortable chair, Susan disappeared to talk with her boss. Within ten minutes, a mousy woman came bustling out of the office. Her name tag read Madam Pippin. "Potter, come with me, if you please," she said sternly. She reminded him of McGonagall._

 _"But of course," he said as he approached, throwing a wink Susan's way for helping him skip some bureaucracy. The girl turned bright red and ducked back below the counter. Harry actually chuckled at that._

 _Within moments he was sitting across a mahogany desk from Madam Pippin, who quickly explained the simple ritual. "First you make a small cut on the palm of your dominant hand's thumb with this Ritual Dagger," she said, flippantly waving a crude obsidian knife around. "Then, you let a drop of blood land on this previously Enchanted Parchment. After that, the blood will soak into the parchment and coalesce into words..."_

 _Doing as he was told, these words began to form:_

* * *

Bloodline Patent of Harold James Potter:

Scion Apparent and Sole Beneficiary of:

The Most Ancient and Revered House of Peverell  
The Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter  
The Most Ancient and Noble House of Black (Incomplete)

Heir By Right-of-Conquest of:

The Most Ancient and Revered House of Slytherin  
The Most Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt  
The Noble House of Malfoy (Incomplete)

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Receive a Blood Patent**  
 **Completion Reward: 100 EXP**

 **Objective Unlocked: Talk to the Gringotts Overseer**

* * *

 **(Present: Day of World Cup)**

A sharp crack resounded around the camp site, alerting all of its denizens to a nearby apparition. Several people looked up for a moment, gawked at the duo that arrived, before quickly returning to their tasks thanks to a not-so-subtle glare from the female of the pair.

"Thanks Tonks," said Harry, both for the mode of instantaneous transportation that she provided, and the glare that kept all of his would-be admirers at bay. She just smiled at him.

"Harry, it's nice to see you," said Arthur Weasley looking up at them from his crouched position next to a comically large pile of sticks. "Ron and Hermione should be back soon. They're getting us some water."

"Oh, okay," said Harry politely. Then he took in what the man was doing. "So, er, what're you up to, Mr. Weasley?"

Fred immediately interjected on his father's behalf, "Dad's having a bit of fun with matches."  
"We have to cook outside because we're pretending to be muggles," added George, for Harry's benefit.  
"For security purposes and whatnot," continued Fred, nodding sagely. George was shaking his head sagely.

It was a bit disconcerting.

"Ah, it's nice to see you guys again," said Harry fondly. Waving to Tonks next to him, he introduced her, "This is Tonks. She's my... er... well, my bodyguard?" His statement sounded more quizzical than anything, because neither were sure why Dumbledore decided that he needed a bodyguard. Or, why he specifically asked Amelia Bones to put Tonks on the task.

"Wicked," they said, disregarding his delivery.  
"The Prophet mentioned that the Ministry assigned an auror protection detail for you," began George.  
And Fred finished more seriously, "-what with Sirius Black still being on the loose, and all that jazz."

"Yep. And this is she," said the Boy-Who-Lived, touched that they showed concern for his well being, even if it was (unknowingly) unfounded. Still, it felt good to have people that cared about him.

Tonks smiled and said, "You two must be the infamous Weasley Twins. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

They both grinned, "Infamous? Does our reputation precede us?"

"Heh, probably not. I went out with your brother Charlie when we were both Seventh Years. I was a beater for Hufflepuff back then," she said fondly, remembering good times from over four years prior. "He mentioned you guys a few times, and I was there during the Marshmallow Dragon Incident. That's not the sort of thing you'd forget, would you?"

"Ah, First Year," sighed Fred forlornly.  
"Good times," said George, "Good times."

"Marshmallow Dragon Incident?" queried Harry.

"Don't ask," muttered Tonks, her cheeks turning slightly pink at the memory.

"Don't tell," said Fred lightly.  
George smacked him upside the head.  
"What's that for?"  
"Oh, you know."  
"Too true that, o' brother of mine."

Ginny, who'd been lounging on a nearby log the entire time, piped up, "Please don't get them started on political humor. It's all about American muggle politics. As if their trick wands and Ton-Tongue Toffee weren't bad enough, they've decided to get _niche_ with their jokes..."

It was around this point that she realized that she'd been talking almost flippantly to Harry Potter, the walking storybook hero. Her mouth clamped shut, and Harry could almost feel the heat radiating off of her face even from this distance. The young wizard in question lightly chuckled on her anecdote, and her face began to turn almost purple. He decided not to inquire as to whether she was okay or not.

Ron and Hermione finally returned to the clearing a few moments later, carrying a heavy canister of water. They all greeted each other, Harry introduced everyone to Tonks and vice versa, and then they all started getting caught up on each other's summers. These two excerpts from the next few hours of conversation are good summaries of what were discussed:

"... My parents took me with them to France earlier this summer," said Hermione happily. "It really was quite a delightful place. I just adore the culture there: the architecture, food, sculptures, language, paintings, and music are just so sophisticated." She sighed wistfully, "Did you know that their magical school, Beauxbatons, has a completely different way of organizing the student body? I read about it in..."

"... I got a new owl, but Ginny somehow managed to name it Pigwidgeon while I wasn't paying attention. She reckons its sweet, or something like that. I just call the hyperactive fluffball Pig to spite her," said Ron proudly. "Mom yelled at the Twins something fierce for an order form to their future joke shop. Complained about their lack of O.W.L.'s, she did..." Then, "Hermione, please don't mention your trip abroad to Percy again once they (meaning Bill, Charlie, and Percy) all arrive; he'll bore the pants off us again with his cauldron bottom reports and Mr. Crouch's bottom report..."

And so the day went on, and the excitement over the campsites ratcheted up higher and higher. By the time night fell, the Ministry had all but given up trying to keep a lid on magical activity. And so salesman were using much more magical displays to attract customers, which led to Harry buying omnoculars for himself, his bodyguard, and his two best friends.

And soon, they were on their way to the actual game...

* * *

 ** _(Past: Harry's Fourteenth Birthday)_**

 _Harry appeared on the marbled entryway to Gringotts in a brilliant flash of white fire. He really loved his familiar's ability to teleport him anywhere._

 _On all sides of him were rows of goblins at their mahogany desks. Some were filing paperwork, some were talking to customers, but most were counting coins and bullion of precious metals. Some were weighing out precious and semi-precious stones. And all of this was happening right next to the front door, where anybody could try running in and stealing something._

 _But any would-be thieves wouldn't get very far before becoming bloody mist._

 _Case in point, Harry's dramatic entrance resulted in him having a myriad of swords, spears, lances, maces, and axes pointed at him from the heavily armored security guards. They growled at him, revealing their sharp fangs to show that they meant business. He idly remembered from History of Magic that goblins had two hearts, four lungs, and four testicles so that they'd be even harder to take down._

 _That detail popped into his mind just in case he needed to fight any of them._

 _"I come in peace," he said, wondering if they would try to kill him anyway. On second thought, it was probably best not to just phoenix-flash in the middle of a highly secured building run by a bloodthirsty phantasmal race that was always just itching for an excuse to kill a human. None of them lowered their weapons, further exacerbating the spectacle that Harry was finding himself to be in the center of._

 _He shrugged, turned to the nearest teller, and approached. "Hi, I'd like to speak to a manager, please," said Harry politely. If nothing else, he'd learned that goblins were very volatile and prideful, and he didn't want to create any further tension than his rather explosive entrance into the bank already had. Their legendary blood-rage, combined with their fail-safe organ systems and magically resistant hides made them a wizard's nightmare._

 _Unfortunately he chose a very surly fellow, who merely snarled, "Key?" at him. Seeing the nameplate on its desk, Harry wondered if its bad attitude came from the misfortune of its name. Surely, this fellow's parents had to have known what they were going to be putting their son through._

 _Deciding to ignore the tone, as well as all of the hostile looks and weapons pointing in his direction, Harry flippantly reached into his pocket and pulled out the item in question. After a moment of scrutinizing the object, which Harry guessed was some form of personal identification on top of how to access his vault, the goblin nodded sharply at him._

 _"Barbcock will escort you to your manager," said the reptilian hominid._

 _"Thanks for your help, Lockjaw," responded Harry with a straight face. The corners of his lips only barely twitched too. These creatures had some of the more interesting names that he'd come across. Then he blinked at the creature's mottled skin, noticing the pronounced crest on its head. It was a female goblin... named Lockjaw._

 _Deciding not to even bother, Harry turned and followed Barbcock out of the giant room, down a corridor of marble. There were torches of witchlight in sconces at regular intervals, providing enough light for Harry to see just how far this hallway led. It kept going so far that there was a convergence point for the walls, floor, and ceiling; it went farther than his eyes could see._

 _The male goblin was glaring at him for making it have to do work, and the boy wondered how they were such a popular institution with their horrible customer service. Perhaps it was that plaque in the front of the bank, forewarning any thieves of their imminent deaths._

 _They eventually came upon an oaken door, where Barbcock ran one of his clawed fingers down an invisible line that Harry couldn't see. It reminded him of the trick door guarding Vault 713 that, if attempted by someone other than the Gringotts approved clanker, would trap them for a decade or so without any of the necessities of life. He suppressed a shiver that wanted to run down his spine._

 _The door opened, and the boy entered, leaving behind his escort. Once he crossed the threshold, it closed shut behind him. And, due to his **Magic Sensing** , Harry could feel a bounded field go up around him. He wasn't sure what it did, but he guessed that it had something to do with privacy and security. Actually, he probably needed to learn how to make them too..._

 _"Welcome, Harold James Potter," said the goblin behind an enormous ebony desk, "I've been expecting you for some time..."_

 _Harry took in the manager's office, looking from the imposing ebony desk to the fireplace directly behind it, to the chairs facing the desk. There was a pile of neatly stacked parchment, a scale with iridescent orbs resting in it, and a phoenix feather quill on the desk. On one wall there was a portrait of an old goblin in golden armor and red cape that was snarling at Harry, and on the other a gilded scrying mirror like the one Sirius gave him just before he left that morning._

 _Before he could stop himself, Harry said, "Nice office." The hobgoblin (for Harry realized that it had undergone its metamorphosis from goblin to hobgoblin upon closer inspection) didn't seem to be expecting such a blasé statement from the newly fourteen year-old, and let out a gruff bark of laughter._

 _"Indeed Mr. Potter. How can I be of service to you?" asked the hobgoblin. Harry knew that the being before him was both wealthy and cunning just from the various complicated mechanical devices scattered about the room, and was much older than even Dumbledore. Sheer physical hardiness would allow an individual goblin to live for centuries, if their dangerous hobbies and wars didn't kill them, as evidenced by Warlord Bwa'Kell. That Warlord was a veteran of the very first Goblin Rebellion, who died (of decidedly unnatural causes) well over a eleven centuries after that particular rebellion ended._

 _Harry shook his head, and they waited in silence. The Chieftain of the Hrothgar clan watched his client carefully, noting that the human seemed to be deep in thought about something, or even having a silent conversation with himself._

 _"There are actually quite a few things we need to discuss. But before I say anything, you must swear a magical pledge to never reveal these secrets to anybody unless I say otherwise. Is that agreed upon?" asked Harry mildly. He was somewhat following the script that Sirius prepared for him in advance._

 _He decided to ask for a magical pledge over a magical vow for several reasons. A magical pledge is a type of contractual enchantment that mystically restricts one's actions (forcing them to follow through with whatever they agreed upon), but a magical vow is binding through negative consequences (things such as loss of magic or life are typically used)._

 _The hobgoblin chieftain peered at Harry, as if this were the first time he'd ever properly seen a human. He smiled grimly and said, "That's a wise precaution. Most of your kind just assume that there's a confidentiality agreement between us, but if they haven't made a binding magical contract there's nothing to keep me from blabbing their secrets. Very well. I, Ragnok, Chieftain of the Hrothgar Clan and Overseer of Gringotts, pledge to not reveal your secrets to anyone else unless you deem otherwise."_

 _Harry nodded and said, "So mote it be." There was a brief flash of light that illuminated the lavishly decorated office before they looked at each other again. There was a slight shift in the hobgoblin's stance, as if it suddenly understood that the boy before him actually knew what he was doing. No doubt the boy's insistence upon using a magical pledge to assure confidentiality filled the accountant with curiosity._

 _Repeating the statement he made prior to the verbal agreement, Ragnok said, "What is it that you'd like to discuss first?"_

 _"I have obtained a Bloodline Patent, and I would like to be informed of each Estate on this parchment. From there, we can continue our discussion depending on how things go..."_

* * *

 **(Present: Day of the World Cup)**

Thousands of witches and wizards moved along a lantern-lit path through the woods, talking happily among themselves for nearly twenty minutes. Harry's group was having a grand time, and they soon arrived at the enormous golden quidditch stadium that could house a hundred thousand people. Fireflies glowed in the soft darkness, and the air was warm from the summer night.

Everyone was so pumped that they barely even heard Arthur's anecdote about it taking nearly five hundred wizards to complete its muggle repelling charms alone. The Boy-Who-Lived could feel the tense excitement in his own stomach, and wondered how Krum and Lynch felt playing in front of such an enormous crowd.

Soon they were walking up a seemingly endless flight of stairs to the Top Box, carpeted in rich purple. The farther up they went, the less crowded and noisy everything seemed, until they finally arrived at their destination. It was midway down the field, at the highest point of the stadium. There were two rows of purple and gold seats, of which Harry's party took the front center.

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Go to the World Cup**  
 **Completion Reward: 250 EXP**

 **Objective Unlocked: Be the Hero**

 **Level Up! Current Level: 12**

* * *

They were making lighthearted conversation while they waited for things to kick off. Tonks was catching up with Charlie, as they were apparently year-mates at Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione were bickering over the importance of celebrities to the wizarding world, the Twins were crossing their fingers for good luck (their bet was ridiculous), and Ginny was quietly taking everything in, just like Harry.

Looking out over the stadium at the roaring crowd, they took in the seas of green for the Irish and and red for the Bulgarians. There were several advertisements floating through the stadium, promoting businesses and their various services and products. Harry wondered how much it cost to place those in the World Cup. Something told him that it wasn't cheap.

"This is what quidditch is all about," said Ron happily. Everybody in earshot agreed.

By this point, Harry noticed a house elf was sitting in one of the seats behind them, dressed in a tea towel and hiding its face in its hands. He almost would have thought that it was Dobby if not for the fact that his personal elf was back at Grimmauld Place, competing with Kreacher over who was the better cook. And so Harry never spoke to the elf, for he had no reason to.

"Oh how interesting," said Hermione, seemingly ignoring what Ron was commenting on with the use of his omnoculars. "The mascots for each time are going to put on a performance before the match. I've read that the mascots are phantasmal humanoids from the home country of the teams participating, and that Ireland uses leprechauns, but what could Bulgaria's be?"

"I've heard ahead of time that they've brought veela with them," said Arthur, smiling in a knowing way at his sons. "It should be... interesting, I think."

And then they began to wait even longer as the Top Box filled with important people. Arthur kept shaking their hands while Percy made something of a fool of himself, standing up at light-speed to greet almost everybody that arrived. When the Ministers of Britain and Bulgaria showed up, the poor boy somehow managed to break his glasses.

The leaders of their respective countries turned to Harry, greeting the boy warmly (the way Cornelius Fudge went), or with great excitement (Ivan Obalonski took this route). Percy was glaring at Harry jealously, and Ron probably would have if he were paying any attention. But at this moment, a family entered the sanctuary that caught everybody's eye.

"Ah, I'm pleasantly surprised that you managed to get time off for this, Monsieur Delacour," said Fudge warmly, kissing the back of the man's wife's hand. "It's not every day that the French Ministry lets you go on vacation, is it?"

The man in question, seeming to be jovial if average, chuckled and replied, "My Department hasn't had much to do for the past few days, so I figured this was a perfect opportunity to ask off. Besides, my oldest, Fleur, has been following the Irish team for quite some time. Both of my daughters play Fantasy Quidditch, you see..."

But most of the men around them weren't paying any attention to Louis Delacour. They were staring at his wife, Apolline, and his daughters, Fleur and Gabrielle. The woman and her eldest daughter possessed supernatural beauty, the kind that made the minds of men go fuzzy just with close proximity. And the youngest girl was so adorable and cherubic that several people had to stop themselves from cooing at her, creepy as that would be.

The French family sat down behind Harry's party, slightly off center. The Boy-Who-Lived was infinitely aware of their close proximity, his senses having gone hyper-aware as soon as he caught sight of the beautiful Fleur.

"Ah, Lucius, a pleasure," came Cornelius's voice, though it was colored with something Harry couldn't quite place . The Minister seemed quite happy to have his greatest benefactor with him. "I trust that you have had a pleasant evening so far?" But Harry's eyes unfocused, thinking about the precarious situation he was in, in regards to the Malfoy household...

* * *

 ** _(Past: Harry's Fourteenth Birthday)_**

 ** _Objective Completed: Talk to the Gringotts Overseer  
Completion Reward: 100 EXP_**

 ** _Objective Unlocked: Speak With Sirius About Adoption  
_**

* * *

 _"Why am I the heir to the House of Black?" asked Harry. "And what does it mean by 'Heir By Right-of-Conquest' for the others?"_

 _"The current Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, one Sirius Orion Black, named you as his successor in the Family Line in the event that he has no children back before he was sent to Azkaban for mass-murder. And since your..._ estranged _... godfather still hasn't sired any heirs, that leaves you as his sole beneficiary," explained the overseer._

 _Ragnok smiled and continued, "And as for the Right-of-Conquest: If a magical oath or pledge is uttered and not carried through, then the perpetrator must be punished. It says here that the Scion of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, one Draco Malfoy, challenged you to a wizard's duel and automatically forfeited by failing to show up, besmirching his honor and allowing you to lay claim to a sizable reparation from the Malfoy Estate."_

 _Harry frowned and asked, "What about the Slytherin and Gaunt families?"_

 _"It seems that an assassination attempt by the last Scion of both Slytherin and Gaunt, the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, put these houses in much the same position," explained the hobgoblin._

 _"You mentioned something about a lawsuit against the Malfoys?" prompted the raven haired boy._

 _The overseer nodded and said, "It is standard procedure for such claims to be presented as a case to the Wizengamot as a whole. There will be prosecutors, witnesses, a jury, a judge, the whole shebang. If you win, everyone will know what the opposition did to you, what their punishment was, and that you won't put up with slights against your families' honor any longer."_

* * *

 ** _Quest Unlocked: Defending the Family's Honor_**  
 ** _Objective 1: Acquire Funds_**  
 ** _Objective 2:_** ** _?_**  
 ** _Completion Reward: 750 EXP; Reparations From the Malfoy Estate_**

* * *

 _"Can't lawsuits go either way though? What happens if I lose?" asked Harry, not knowing if he even really wanted to know the answer._

 _"The spoils of war go to the victor, as they say. If you lose, a reparation of equal value must be paid from you to them. I'm pretty sure the Malfoys would likely win. You see, you have to have money to pay for barristers and solicitors, and the only accounts that you'd be able to access at the moment are the Potter accounts, which have been steadily dwindling over the past decade and a half while unattended. You should put off on this for a while. You might even be able to use it for leverage later on..."  
_

* * *

 **(Present: Day of World Cup)**

The Potter and Malfoy scions locked eyes for a brief moment, both turning their heads away from one another. Now, surrounded by powerful men and women from all over the world, wasn't the time to be having petty schoolyard dick measuring contests. With that, Harry turned back toward the field, just as the Bulgarian mascots started dancing across the field. Luckily, his recently developed mental fortitude was keeping him rational and competent in the face of the massive veela allure that was emanating from below...

* * *

 **Active Quests:**

 **The Unforgettable Summer: Be the Hero  
Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt: Find Out How Many Horcruxes There Are  
Defending the Family's Honor: Acquire Funds  
 _A Sirius Conundrum: Ask Sirius About Adoption_  
**


	7. Act One: Quidditch World Cup Part 2

**Act One: World Cup Part Two**

* * *

 **(Campsite After World Cup)**

"Wow, that was a crazy ending," exclaimed Ron, just happy that Krum caught the snitch. The fact that they were less than a dozen feet away from the boy's idol had done nothing to avail him of his hero worship. "I told you all, didn't I? Krum is the absolute greatest seeker in the entire world. I can't believe that he's still a student at Durmstang..."

George called out, "Does Ickle Ronniekins have a crush on Viktor Krum?"  
Fred flicked George and said, "Not now, Handsome Twin. I need you to concentrate!"  
"That doesn't make any sense right now. We aren't even on the same team!"  
"Aren't we not though?" was the other's smooth rebuttal.

The identical twins, along with Ginny and Hermione, were playing Exploding Cards Against Humanity. It was apparently like regular Cards Against Humanity, but with explosions. It was as awesome as it sounds.

"I'm going to bed. I'm pooped, " said Harry, stretching as he got up to leave.

"I still can't believe that 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of _' is a card," said Hermione, doing her best to keep her giggles to herself. Really, he should have guessed that his fame would have gotten him into this kind of trouble.

"I especially liked the combination, 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Harry Potter Erotica'; it just gives me such a happy image," said Ginny, blushing dark crimson at her daring. Everybody started guffawing uncontrollably and pointing at Harry, thinking about the possible ways that such a scenario could come into being.

"I like to think he'd rather enjoy that himself," said Tonks, her ever-changing eyes twinkling with a very dark sense of humor. "He is a bit of a narcissist, after all, being a celebrity and whatnot..." Everybody's laughter ratcheted up several degrees, and he felt his face redden. Perhaps it was because his celebrity status was so great that he was in a card game he'd never heard of, or he had such better self-esteem lately, but it seemed that everybody thought it was okay to rib him for it. It was nice, not being treated like an emotionally frail person.

"I suppose that wouldn't be too bad..." he muttered to himself, trying hard to keep his face blank, just loud enough for everybody to hear him. Even more laughter happened. "Alright guys, I really should be going to sleep soon though..." he got a round of 'good night's from everyone, and hugs from all the ladies.

Within moments he was in the top bunk of his bed, curled up into a ball and smiling softly. Placing his glasses onto the double decker nightstand by the bunk-bed...

"Get up!" shouted Mr. Weasley, roughly waking everybody up. "Boys, c'mon! This is urgent!"

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: The Nightmare After Quidditch**  
 **Objective 1: Find a Safe Place**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 500 EXP  
**

* * *

Harry groggily rolled out of the top bunk, taking in the occupants of the tent. Bill was fighting to put a boot on, Charlie was already dressed with a grim look on his face, and Percy walked out of the front flab of the tent without looking back. The Twins, for once, appeared to be completely serious, while Ron was just now sitting up in bed. Tonks ushered Ginny and Hermione into their tent, her body language far more rigid and controlled than normal.

"What's going on?" asked Harry, even as he put his clothes on at lightning speed.

"There's no time, Ron!" said the mildly irate man as his youngest son was reaching for a change of clothes. "Get outside quickly!" They did as they were told, coming upon a campground that was rapidly being abandoned.

The change in atmosphere was immediately apparent. The sounds were different: there was no more singing and laughter, for it was replaced by the heavy footfalls of people running. The occasional distant scream was intermittent with the crackling of the dying campfires. Through their light he could see masses of people running into the woods, escaping something that made his stomach turn cold.

A crowd of wizards was slowly approaching their campground, their drunken laughter and loud jeering broken up by the flashes and noises of spells. Every single individual in that crowd wore black robes with pointed hoods and white masks. They all had red bars suspended over their heads, marking them as hostile. Hanging in the air above these vile people were four figures that were being bent into grotesque shapes by their magic. He recognized one as the muggle in charge of the campsite.

Harry's eyes narrowed, and he took one step towards them. "Harry," came a familiar voice. "Come with us!" He turned back at Hermione, and looked right into the hearts of her pleading eyes. Time slowed down, and the world greyed as another decision hung in the air before him.

* * *

 **Go With Your Friends?**

 **Yes** or **No**

* * *

He looked back at the crowd of enemies, then back at his small group of friends. Nodding, he walked back to them, his decision evident enough for the query to disappear. "We should head to the stadium through the less-crowded paths in the woods," said Tonks, eyeing the drunken crowd warily. She was probably very glad that her charge hadn't rushed into the thick of things without her.

Arthur, Bill, and Charlie went off to help Ministry officials quell the riot with determined gaits.

Harry almost went running back to that crowd of enemies, but shook his head and thought better of it. So the rest of their party ghosted into the woods. It was around this time that Harry realized his wand was missing. It wasn't even in his inventory. "I guess it's a good thing that I didn't go off to fight that mob," said Harry, pretending not to be too concerned about its loss.

"What d'you mean, mate?" asked Ron, looking at his friend in befuddlement.

"I don't know where my wand is," he answered nonchalantly. His attempt at brevity might not have been as successful as he hoped, because everyone sucked in short breaths at that statement. Hermione's worried doe turned on him, and he did his token best to ignore them. But, even in doing so, he was still subject to somebody else's far stricter attention.

Tonks spoke up sharply, her hair reddening in the process. "When did you notice it was missing?"

"Just now, actually."

Her jaw clenched for a moment, before she sighed in acceptance. "You lot go on to safety," she said to Fred and George, Ginny and Hermione, and Ron. "We're going to get his wand back." She took a few steps to end up right beside Harry, giving him a pointed look. The rest reluctantly continued on, looking back at them ever so often before they disappeared into the shadowy woods.

Then the remaining duo backtracked, hoping to find a glimpse of his familiar holly wand as soon as they possibly could. "We need to trace my exact path," he said to his bodyguard, "-there's a good chance that it just fell out of my pocket in all the excitement." He winced the moment his utterance fully left his mouth, knowing how anybody would react to how irresponsible he'd been.

"You keep your wand in your pocket?" she asked, seemingly ignoring his glaringly obvious mistake for his benefit, frowning slightly. "My mentor knew a guy that accidentally blew his bits off doing that..."

"Of course that's the first thing you'd think about," Harry muttered. Tonks decided to ignore that too.

So they continued fumbling around in the dark, all the way back to the tent. They couldn't find his wand.

Smacking her forehead, she said, "I don't know why I didn't just do this in the first place!" Screwing her eyes shut in concentration, she murmured, " _Accio Harry's Wand!_ " Nothing happened for nearly ten seconds, until a hole was ripped in the tent and the wand in question slammed into her chest. It then bounced into Harry's nimble hand, which caught the stick more out of reflex than anything else.

"Sorry," he managed, his attention on the current situation drastically derailed by her current actions. She was rubbing her right breast from where his wand smacked her, glaring at his magical tool angrily. Then she noticed how he was reacting to what she was doing, and leveled her fiercest glare at him, as if he caused it to happen in the first place.

"Never mind that. We need to get out of here-"

But she was cut off when two robed and masked wizards walked through the entrance flap of their tent, their health bars pulsating with their heartbeats. Time stopped for a brief moment, as each group stared at one another in confusion. Harry noticed that their names were both Petty Death Eater, and his sweaty hand clutched his wand. Then all hells broke loose.

Harry and Tonks dove behind a bed, his glasses flying off in the mad rush for cover. Both of the drunk wizards fumbled after them inexpertly.

Everything became a blur of shouts of incantations, flashes of multicolored light, and screams of pain. In an instant everything was over in favor of Harry and Tonks. For several heartbeats, silence reigned over the tent. Then Harry realized what had happened.

* * *

 **15 EXP Gained  
15 EXP Gained**

* * *

He stared at his hands, noting the crystalline clarity of the world around him. His **[ Sharingan]** was activated. In just two cutting curses, he ended two lives. The **Game** simply notified him that he successfully landed two critical strikes.

Harry stared at the spreading pools of blood, wondering how this could have come about, but distinctly remembering because of his eyes. Tonks was saying something to him, but her voice seemed really far away. All of his attention was on the two bodies in front of him, which were dead the moment his attacks landed on their **Critical Points**.

He was a killer now. He didn't even feel bad about his action, just a little empty inside. He was-

Tonks slapped the shit out of him, knocking him down onto the bed they used as cover. He idly touched his stinging cheek, before coming back to reality. "We need to go, NOW!" she shouted frantically. There were many alarmed voiced closing in on their position, so they ducked out the back of the tent and sprinted into the woods as fast as they could.

It didn't take long for them to reach another campground that was almost right next to the stadium. While the tents making it up were far more regal and majestic, they were equally in shambles and on fire. "Is everywhere like this?" asked Harry in growing horror, hoping that everyone he knew was okay. Something deep down told him that it was a stupid notion to cling to, but he ignored it.

"It's starting to look like it, isn't it?" was the only answer he got from Tonks, who was eyeing their surroundings as if she were expecting an enemy at any turn. Her training under Sir Alastor Moody was starting to show, because her eyes were swiveling around at a speed that almost made Harry dizzy. No doubt she wouldn't be caught by surprise again any time soon.

"Harry, is that you?" yelled Hermione. The two turned around to see her running towards them, her tear-stricken face putting both on edge. The brunette plowed into him, her body comfortably contouring into his. Her body was shaking from her hard sobs, and her tears were melting through his shirt.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" said Harry, his head twisting about for a glimpse of Ron. "Where's Ron?" His question only made her cry harder, and a cold realization formed in his chest. "Hermione, where's Ron?" he repeated, trying to deny what he already knew.

She broke away from him and wordlessly pointed in the direction she came from, her other hand over her mouth. Tonks ran off ahead of him to search for the redhead, hoping that things weren't as bad as she was imagining them to be. Harry tried to run after her, but something caught his wrist. He looked down, noticing that the vice-like grip belonged to Hermione, who was not crying anymore. In fact, she was smiling. There was a manic gleam in her eyes.

"Hermione, what are you doing? I need to-"

"You really are stupid, Potter," she purred, in a pleased tone that she'd never used before. Then, in a far colder voice than she'd ever used before, she said "Checkmate."

"Wha-" Her wand's tip was resting on his chest, and he knew better than to speak. He idly noticed, in the back of his mind, that her breath smelled strongly of something familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on where he'd smelled it.

Hermione's smile starting growing with insane glee, and she took a step closer to him so that they were inches apart. "The Dark Lord... Said that he needed you alive... Didn't he...?" Harry wanted to say, 'How the fuck would I know, or you for that matter?' but something told him not to. This wasn't Hermione, so he'd let them keep talking as much as they wanted.

Villainous monologues were great ways to gain information on the enemy. Voldemort himself taught him at least that much.

"... But he didn't really mean that, right...?" she continued, as if he hadn't interrupted her. "I know what he really wants, because I'm his favorite, his most loyal and devout... I tortured the Longbottoms on my quest to find him... I suffered through Azkaban for him... He knows that I know... And I know... That he knows... That I know... So I know... That he knows... What I'm about to do... And he's given me his blessing... Hasn't he...?"

Polyjuice! That's what her breath smelled like, which meant that this wasn't Hermione, not that he really thought that after she started talking. This was somebody pretending to be her, someone that worked for Voldemort, and somebody that wanted him dead. But that didn't change the fact that a wand tip was touching him, a familiar one at that. If this impostor hurt her or anyone else for that matter-

" _Avada Kedavra_ ," she said, her eyes gleaming with wicked delight. At point blank range, there was nothing he could do. The sickly green light flooded his vision, the same spell that Voldemort's Final Horcrux used in its opening salvo. The killing curse, instantaneous death via severing the soul from the body.

Then his vision was overcome by the sickly green of the spell, before everything faded to black. There were three bright crimson words floating in front of him, followed by the most perplexing sentence that he'd ever read, at least in context with the first.

* * *

 **You Are Dead!**

 **Load the Last Save Game?**

 **Yes** or **No**

* * *

 **(Fleur; Top Box During World Cup)**

Fleur Delacour's delphinium eyes were on the back of _his_ head, a seed of curiosity planted in her mind. She could feel the emotions and feelings and urges of all the people around her, as was her wont as a veela. Normally it made her feel claustrophobic in enclosed spaces containing men due to the lust that they always exuded, but this time was different.

Oh, she still felt like she was being plunged into a sea of carnal desire the moment she stepped into the Top Box, but there was a slight difference in the currents of that sea. It was coming from a boy that was sitting in the front row, but she couldn't tell what that difference was. Deciding that it wasn't too important, she turned her attention to the rest of her surroundings.

The Minister introduced the Malfoy and Weasley families, apparently unaware of the blatant hostility floating around them. And the man appeared to be almost anxious for the dark-haired teen to notice him, though exactly why this was eluded her.

This caught her attention. Anything that could make someone as politically powerful as the Minister of Magic uncomfortable was worth paying attention to. Fleur's empathy was going into overdrive. There was almost overt disgust between the redhead family and the newly arrived Malfoy family, but that was nothing compared to the blind hatred that the Malfoy clan had for the still unnamed boy. In return, the teen only felt apathy.

It wasn't until the young Malfoy muttered, "Potter," under his breath that she realized who he was.

Sitting less that five feet away from her was the Boy-Who-Lived, the only known survivor of the Killing Curse, and one of the most famous living wizards in the world. He seemed to be unaffected by her passive allure, and causing some sort of anomaly in the world around her, but... she was underwhelmed, to be honest. She expected him to be taller.

Harry Potter returned his attention to the stadium, just as the mascots started performing.

"What're veela?" asked one of the redheads sitting next to him, a boy apparently named Ron, over the rising excitement of the crowd. His question was answered almost immediately, when the performance started. Supernaturally beautiful women garbed in tantalizingly skimpy outfits glided onto the field, each so amazingly fair that they could be mistaken for angels.

The crowd was going into an uproar, men beginning to do stupid things in poorly thought out plans to garner the flock's attention. Ron, being among these people wanted to impress the beautiful women by any means necessary. Luckily Hermione had slapped some sense into him before he jumped from the Top Box.

It was hilarious to the few people that could keep their heads, such as Fleur herself and the rest of her family.

"Oh..." said Ron dazedly, his voice cracking under his confusion and newfound lust. He was sporting a boner that was just large enough to be noticeable, but still small enough to be considered negligible to anyone that cared about penis sizes. He was still a boy, after all, not a man.

A single veela, even a fledgling maiden at that, could bring a teenage boy like him to his knees without even noticing him; that's just how powerful their passive allure was. In the face of this onslaught, an entire flock of matrons actively unleashing and directing their allure, his lack of coherent thought was completely understandable.

Few men in the stadium weren't actively making fools of themselves to get the attention of the alluring women below. The spectacle was either embarrassing or amusing to their female compatriots for the most part. Fleur was in the latter category, laughing at some of the strange antics of the nearby men. Cornelius Fudge's attempted strip-tease was more than enough to bring Gabrielle to the floor in tears.

But she noticed something odd. Harry Potter was just sitting in his chair, his fingers digging into the armrests as if he were in pain. She actively began searching for how he was feeling, curious about his reaction to the combined power of an entire flock of veela matrons. What she found was actually surprising. Or at least, what she _didn't_ find.

There was nothing coming from the boy. She couldn't sense his emotions, nor his feelings, nor his urges. It was like he wasn't even there, which was impossible unless somebody was a ghost, or very good at the Mind Arts... She blinked at her last thought, then tried to pick up what she could through body language.

Harry sat forward, suddenly full of far more stress than he had only a moment ago. His eyes were darting around for a brief moment. He flung his hand into his pocket, as if to check that something was still there, before he relaxed marginally and eased back into his chair. There was a different air about him, one of stress and relief simultaneously. It was incredibly odd.

"How did you recover so fast?" Ron asked his bespectacled friend, once his thoughts were stable again. Then he blinked owlishly and amended, "Actually, you didn't even seem all that affected, did you..."

Fleur's ears perked up, straining even with her enhanced hearing to pick up any scrap of information. The Boy-Who-Lived just shrugged, but he wasn't focusing on his friends. He also wasn't focusing on the stadium. He was looking up at the sky. "Sorry, I seem to be having an extreme case of Deja Vu..."

Whatever he'd felt, it wasn't a normal reaction. He clearly wasn't unaffected. But she just didn't know what it did to him, since he was acting very different to how he was just before the performance. It was almost frustrating to her. The entire point of a veela's allure was to excite the men around them, which it evidently did to the Boy-Who-Lived, just not the way it was intended.

The French witch felt her little sister's confusion and her mother's surprise. They too were paying an unusual amount of attention to Harry Potter, for his oddities hadn't escaped their notice either. And her female family members, in turn, felt her curiosity on the matter.

Just as they too saw his calm in a sea of excitement, like a splotch of blue paint on an otherwise yellow painting. The Delacour family, sitting right behind Harry, all exchanged cool looks. Apolline smiled knowingly at her daughters, and nodded. She knew something, but would tell them about it later. That was okay by Fleur. It probably wasn't too important anyway...

* * *

 **(Harry; Top Box During World Cup)**

After clicking that he'd like to load the next save, Harry plunged through darkness until he slammed into something hard and cold. Then he felt the warmth of the setting sun, and heard the roar of the crowd. He opened his eyes, but almost hissed at the stinging pain that the golden light caused them. He leaned back in his chair, digging his fingers hard into the armrests to keep from whimpering.

He was alive. Harry was so happy that he didn't pay any attention to the world around him for several minutes, simply allowing his body to go through the motions of what he did the last time. He came back right after completing the objective **Go to the World Cup** for the **Quest: The Unforgettable Summer**. It seemed that everything auto-saved whenever he completed an objective or quest. He wasn't sure how to load these saves from a conscious state, but it seemed that the **Game** would not allow him to die.

He almost cried out in joy, but then he remembered the events that led up to his death.

On reflex he grabbed for his wand and looked around for any sign of danger. His eyes lingered on Hermione for a moment, but it seemed like she was still herself. A cold pit formed in his stomach when he thought about what happened to her. There's a good chance that whoever murder him in the name of Lord Voldemort, likely murdered her as well.

He could not let her or Ron out of his sight this time, which meant that he couldn't forget his wand. But wait, he couldn't have forgotten his wand. It came from outside the tent, in a direction slightly off from where he'd walked. His wand had been moved by somebody else without his permission, or even his knowledge until it was too late. He felt violated at the very thought. He clamped down on his wand, refusing to let it get stolen again.

He watched events play out again. The match went exactly the same, with Krum catching the snitch but Ireland still winning. Cornelius Fudge presented the Irish team with the Trophy, and Krum got a standing ovation. Oddly enough, this time there was a small difference, though Harry wasn't going to question his **Luck** here.

The snitch, that was still in Krum's hand, came to life and broke out of his grasp. Harry instantly recognized it as a Special Golden Snitch, and leaped out of his chair to snatch it out of the air.

* * *

 **Congratulations, You Caught a Special Golden Snitch!  
Cheats Are Unlocked Via Catching Special Golden Snitches!  
**

 **Special Golden Snitches Required to Unlock Next Cheat: 10**  
 **Special Golden Snitches Acquired: 2**

 **You Have Performed An Impressive Task In Front of a Large Audience!  
Charisma Trained Up! Charisma Currently: 4  
Luck Trained Up! Luck Currently: 5**

* * *

The crowd was cheering for him now, but his face was bright red out of embarrassment, though he wasn't exactly sure why he was embarrassed; it _was_ a pretty awesome catch. He handed the snitch back to Krum, whose piercing, hawk-like gaze followed him back to his chair. His face got even redder when he noticed that he had the attention of every single person around him. Ron was probably going to be super pissed at him later...

After a round of boisterous speeches, the stadium began the long process of clearing out, and his party began the arduous trek down the stairs.

A part of him wanted to suggest that everyone go home early, but another part of him needed to go through that night again. He needed to know the identity of the person that killed him. He needed to know if he was strong enough to make a difference now. He needed to know.

And so he changed nothing. They walked back to the Weasley clan's tent, cooked some food on the campfire, and went inside for entertainment purposes. Other than being a lot nicer to Hermione and checking to see if his wand was still on him, he acted like nothing was different. And he even almost forgot about it, as if it were a hallucination brought on by the veela.

But then it all happened again: Arthur waking everybody up and the eldest sons joining him to go off and fight the Death Eaters, and Tonks taking the younger members of their party through the woods. The bright and vibrant lanterns that illuminated the path to the stadium earlier were now extinguished, plunging everyone into darkness. People were screaming and blundering through the woods, children were separated from their parents and crying, and fires were spreading through the campsites, just like last time..

But then things started to change. Ron suddenly let out a pained yelp. "What happened?" asked Hermione anxiously. Her abrupt stop made Harry walk into her, and he couldn't help but breathe in her perfume of apple cinnamon. He hadn't noticed that before... Tonks rolled her eyes at him, being the only person to notice.

"Tripped over a tree root," said Ron angrily, sprawled on the ground. A bruise was smarting across his cheek.

"Well with feet that size, it'd be hard not to," came Draco Malfoy's drawl from behind them. They all sharply turned to find their schoolyard nemesis leaning casually against a tree, completely unconcerned with the wanton violence surrounding him. "You," he said, nodding to Hermione, "-might not want to stay around here. They have a thing for forcing themselves on mudblood pussie-"

"Go fuck yourself," said Ron, his eyes flashing with barely restrained rage. Tonks was shaking, having to actively suppress her will to curse the Malfoy heir. The blond shrugged, his grey eyes glittering with dark humor, before he turned and disappeared into the trees. He wouldn't be trading insults with them while Tonks was hovering over Harry.

It was at this point that they realized that Fred, George, and Ginny probably hadn't noticed Ron fall down and hadn't waited with them. "We need to catch up with the Twins and Ginny," said Harry, galvanizing everyone into following him deeper into the woods.

They crossed paths with someone familiar. Standing in the center of a trail, her head desperately darting back and forth to see through the underbrush, was the inhumanly beautiful young woman that came with her family to the Top Box. She turned and saw them, and her eyes snapped to Harry for a brief moment, before she went back to looking frantically around her, disregarding them completely.

"Excuse me, did you see three redheads come through here a little bit ago?" asked Harry warily.

The blonde witch, who Harry remembered to be named Fleur, turned back to him with an annoyed air. "I wouldn't know," she said, her voice somehow melodious despite her tone being snappish. Her silver hair swayed in a breeze as she continued searching through the underbrush for somebody, or someone. Slightly affronted, their group began marching again in the hopes of catching up to the missing trio.

When they came level with Fleur, Harry turned to look at her. What's weird, is that she turned to look at him. For a single heartbeat, their gazes connected, and that heartbeat felt like an eternity. In the depths of her hard sapphire eyes, Harry could see so many emotions flitting about her, but two stood out to him: fear and anxiety. Somewhere within, he knew that what he was about to do would be a stupid decision. But, at the same time...

His feet firmly planted themselves, rooting him to the spot. His mouth began to move, and the words were out before he could stop them, "Who are you looking for?" His troupe stopped and turned around, watching him with impatience, curiosity, bemusement, or amusement (or some combinations thereof). But, he didn't notice any of that. All of his attention was on the person before him.

She looked at him as if she were scrutinizing his soul, trying to determine whether he was genuine or not. After a few seconds that felt like a second eternity, Fleur sighed and softly answered, "I 'ave been separated from my family. I am worried for my leetle sister..."

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: When a Veela Cries**  
 **Objective 1: Help Fleur Reunite With Her Sister  
Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 500 EXP; ?  
**

* * *

Harry's eyes went unfocused as he remembered the innocent little girl that accompanied Fleur to the Top Box. Then they held each other's gazes for another moment, and she saw how sharp his emeraldine glare became. "Nothing will happen to her," he murmured. While his voice wasn't meant to carry, it somehow had. And with it came some of his strength of will.

Her lips twitched into a small smile full of the kind of beauty that only evanescent things could hold. Then her head snapped to the right. "I know where they are," she said sharply. "We need to go, now!" Fleur blurred away at a speed that Harry wouldn't be able to match even on his best day, but he still sprinted after her.

His party was staring after him in disbelief, but they decided to follow him despite their confusion.

They soon arrived in a small camp tat was littered with burnt tents. Drunken laughter and slurred incantations rung through the place, followed by pops like gunshots and flashes of iridescent light. The air smelled of acrid smoke, the metallic tangs of blood, and the putrid scent of voided bowels. There were people laying on the burnt grass, who were either unconscious or dead.

Fleur was in the process of staring down three Petty Death Eaters and one Lesser Death Eater (who had higher stats) at once, while two more enemies were already on the ground at her feet, still. In her left hand was a silver blade stained crimson with fresh blood, and in the other was a ball of fire that was glowing with her powerful intent.

"It's the other veela," said one of the men, who had an unconscious Gabrielle slung over his shoulder, his hand groping her rear. Licking his lips, he eyed Fleur. "The younger one's worth ten thousand galleons unblemished, but the older one... We can all take turns with her before we put her on the market..." And then Harry's vision went red.

* * *

 **Ability Evolution: Sharingan**

* * *

The world dropped to a crawl, and he could see imprints of future actions on the world around him. He could see everything coming from a mile away, almost birds-eye view, and it was all meaningless in the face of his eyes. If it weren't for his **[Gamer's Perspective]** , he could easily see himself becoming addicted to the sheer power that wafted off of his **[ Sharingan]**; he could understand the Uchiha clan's curse.

He unleashed three cutting curses, willing more energy than normal into them, bending them through the air with micro-adjustments so they wouldn't harm Gabrielle, and catching the most offensive Death Eater on the jugular, carotid, and femoral arteries. The man was on the ground, bleeding out in seconds.

Ron, Hermione, and Tonks were all staring at him with wide eyes, having only arrived just in time to see him straight up murder his enemy. Fleur ran past him and ripped open the burlap sack, revived her sister who was inside, and clung to the little girl. Both were crying tears of joy at being reunited, and not enslaved, and Harry turned away to give them their moment and walked back to his group.

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Help Fleur Reunite With Her Sister**  
 **Completion Reward: Higher Standing With the Delacours, 250 EXP**

 **Objective Unlocked: Regroup With the Delacour Family**

 **Objective Completed: Be The Hero  
Completion Reward: 150 EXP**

 **Quest Completed: The Unforgettable Summer  
Completion Reward: 1000 EXP**

 **Level-Up! Current Level: 13**

* * *

"You really don't need a bodyguard, do you?" murmured Tonks, staring at the body left in Harry's wake. She didn't appear to be frightened, like his two best friends, but rather bemused with the whole situation. Her hair kept shifting colors, like she was going through a kaleidoscope of emotions at the moment.

He turned a curious gaze over it. The Death Eater was still twitching with sparks of life, but it was rapidly getting snuffed out by the natural order of things. Those sorts of injuries typically weren't fatal to witches or wizards because of how advanced their medical practices were, but Harry used his Techniques to make his attacks far more lethal.

"I-"

"You!" shouted Fleur Delacour, finally having let go of her sister. Harry swiveled around and blinked. The Frenchwoman was less than a foot away from him, somehow. The tiny rivulets of water running down her face were glistening in the moonlight and fire, her delphinium eyes staring at him with a ferocity that he couldn't quite interpret.

"Me?" He couldn't tel if she was angry at him, for some inexplicable reason, or...?

"You saved my little sister." The words were barely audible over the crackling fires that were spreading around them. Her entire body was shaking, and she took an unsteady step towards him. "Even with all of my training, they didn't take me seriously. But you... Harry Potter..." She was radiating some very powerful concoction of emotions that were just beyond his capacity to understand.

"You looked like you were doing pretty well on your own..." he denied, taking an unconscious step back from the young woman, swiveling back to his group. The fiery aura around her seemed to grow at this, and she rushed up to him and grabbed two fistfuls of the back of his shirt. Her ridiculous strength surprised him for only a moment before he remembered what she accomplished before he arrived at the scene.

Then it all sapped away after a few seconds, her face flushed pink and her eyes directed at the ground. The wand Tonks was jabbing in her direction probably did nothing to help. It was as if she hadn't realized that her body was moving until the action was completed. "Non, they would have killed her if I'd gotten much closer. Your presence is the reason Gabrielle is still alive." Then she kissed his cheek.

His face began smoldering, the attention of the angelic girl too much for his brain to bare. So he turned away from her and coughed, before saying, "We should all stick together; it'd be safer that way, I think. We can look for Ron's family and yours at the same time, if you'd like..." He ignored the way his voice cracked several times just now.

Fleur and Gabrielle grinned at him. Fleur's was soft and warm with a hint of something he didn't understand, while Gabrielle's was more a mischievous smirk than anything else. He let out a shaky breath, and everybody began a steady march towards the Stadium. Nobody talked during their short trek, and they arrived without incident.

The throng of people in the golden light of the stadium was truly massive. People with small injuries and damaged property were everywhere, milling about in search of friends and family.

"Fleur! Gabrielle!" called out an elegant voice. Everyone turned to find Apolline Delacour scooping her children up into back-breaking hugs. "Your father and I were so worried..."

* * *

 **Objective Completed: Find a Safe Place  
Completion Reward: 250 EXP**

 **Objective Unlocked: Regroup With the Weasley Clan**

 **Objective Completed: Regroup With the Delacour Family**  
 **Completion Reward: 250 EXP**

 **Quest Completed: When a Veela Cries**  
 **Completion Reward: 500 EXP, Companion: Fleur Delacour**

 **Level-Up! Current Level: 14**

* * *

"We wouldn't have made it out in one piece without Harry Potter's help!" cried out Gabrielle, that same mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "Fleur, why don't you go thank him-" She shut up as soon as her mother squeezed her even tighter, managing only to squeak out words that switched into French. Whatever they were, they made Fleur's face burn.

The silver-haired witch turned to him. Their eyes met, and she slowly approached. "Thank you for your help, Monsieur Potter," she murmured softly, before closing the distance between them and brushing her lips against his forehead. "I can never repay you for saving my sister, but I will try. Come to me in the future if you need anything..."

The way she said anything brought very inappropriate images to the forefront of Harry's mind, but he only nodded at her. "The next time I'm in France, I'll be sure to contact you," he said softly, subconsciously breathing in her scent of lilacs and strawberries.

Her eyes twinkled as she murmured, "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again far sooner than you expect..." Harry smiled at her, just as the rest of the Weasley family showed up, granting him even more **EXP**.

* * *

 **Active Quests:**

 **Dark Lord's Scavenger Hunt:** **Find Out How Many Horcruxes There Are  
 _A Sirius Conundrum: Ask Sirius About Adoption_  
**

* * *

 **Name:** Harry Potter  
 **Age:** 14  
 **Level:** 14 **  
Experience:** 5500/7500  
 **Title:** Boy-Who-Lived  
 **Class:** Wand-Wizard  
 **Affiliation:** Hogwarts **  
Alignment:** Neutral

* * *

 **Atrributes (+2):**

 **Strength** (3)  
 **Perception** (5)  
 **Endurance** (2)  
 **Charisma** (4)  
 **Intelligence** (5)  
 **Agility** (6)  
 **Wisdom** (5)  
 **Luck** (5)

* * *

 **Abilities:**

 **Parseltongue**  
 **Fiction Adaption (+2)**  
 **Sharingan** **  
**

* * *

 **Current Perks:**

 **Wand-Wizard Class Trait**  
 **Gamer Perspective**  
 **Corrupted Blood  
Lady Killer  
Comprehension  
Amalgam Soul  
Toughness  
**

 **Available Perks (+2):**

 **Child At Heart** : Double **Charisma** With Children  
 **Bloody Mess** : +5% Overall Damage and More Graphic Death Animations  
 **Toughness (Rank 2 of 5)** : +10% Damage Resistance Permanently  
 **Strong Back (Rank 1 of 3)** : +50 Carry Weight  
 **Animal Whisperer (Rank 1 of 3)** : Hostile Animals Automatically Become Friendly  
 **A Pirate's Life (Rank 1 of 3)** : Find More Booty: Increased Chances of Finding Money, and Increased **Charisma** With the Opposite Sex  
 **The Shinobi Code (Rank 1 of 3)** : Successful Ranged Sneak Attacks Do Double Damage and Melee Sneak Attacks Do Quadruple Damage  
 **Master Debater** : Double **Charisma** With the Opposite Sex and Increased Ability to **Barter**  
 **Phantasmal Whisperer (Rank 1 of 3)** : Chance to Pacify Hostile Phantasmal Creatures When Wand is Drawn  
 **Adamantium Skeleton** : Limbs Receive Less Damage and Bones Never Break  
 **Idiot Savant** : Randomly Get the Chance For Triple **EXP** From Any Action

Harry decided to purchase **Master Debater** and **Phantasmal Whisperer**.

* * *

 **Skills:**

 **General**

 **Household Management** (0/100): (Child-rearing; Cleaning; Cooking; Gardening)  
 **Observation** (25/100): (Magic Sensing; Structural Analysis)  
 **Riding** (0/100)  
 **Speechcraft** (20/100): (Intimidation; Seduction)  
 **Stealth Arts** (20/100): (Lockpicking; Pickpocket; Sneaking)  
 **Sword Arts** (5/100)

 **Nasu-Verse:**

 **Alchemy** (10/100): Changing One Substance to Another  
 ***Mind Spells*** (20/100): Supplemental Mental Techniques (Memory Manipulation; Mental Partition; Thought Acceleration;)  
 **Reinforcement** (30/100): Using Magic to 'Reinforce' An Object, Improving It

 **Rowling-Verse:**

 **Care For Magical Creatures** (10/100) **  
Charms** (10/100) **  
Dark Arts** (5/100)  
 **Herbology** (15/100) **  
*Magic Dueling*** (59/100) **:** (Amplification; Bending; Chaining; Layering; Parrying; Ricochet) **  
*Occlumency*** (38/100) **:** (Meditation; Organization; Shielding) **  
Potioneering** (5/100) **  
Transfiguration** (10/100)

 **Kishi-Verse:**

 **Elemental Manipulation** (0/100) **  
Shape Manipulation** (5/100)


	8. Act Two: A New School Year

**Author's Note: I have changed Harry's abilities gained from [Fiction Adaption], namely in that I removed them other than the [Sharingan] so far (also redid the ending of the last chapter so that it makes sense a week after I updated, so you might wanna look at it again). So, he can purchase two more abilities, though I have already decided on one. I've put up a poll for Abilities that Harry will gain from [ Fiction Adaption]. Would you kindly go and vote on it?**

* * *

 **Act Two: A New School Year  
**

* * *

 **(Right After the World Cup Riots)**

"What the hell happened earlier?" said Hermione, starting off her harsh interrogation, having joined his makeshift family at Grimmauld Place. Since her parents had planned a second vacation to Germany, and the Weasley family was at max capacity because the Twins destroyed the top two floors of the Burrow in a 'freak-dynamite-fight-accident', she was staying with Harry.

After reuniting with the Weasley clan, Harry and his two lady companions, Hermione and Tonks, went back to the House of Black. They calmly explained what happened to Sirius, who in turn declared martial law that Harry was never to leave his sight ever again. They managed to talk him down from that, thankfully, after several hours of harried negotiations.

The two were in his bedroom with the door closed, finally having the private conversation that she wanted all night. "You were acting weird in the Top Box, but you started making really dumb decisions after we left the tent... Harry, you killed someone..." She was beyond concerned for him, if the glistening in her baggy eyes were any indication.

He blinked at that. "Oh yeah, I did do that, didn't I?" he responded. Honestly it was such a minor detail that he hadn't even thought twice about it. Hermione flinched away from him, and he realized just how callous that must have sounded. He quickly amended, "Wait a second; it's not what it sounds like."

"Really? Then what is it?" she said softly, her lips barely moving. She wasn't actually looking at him anymore, probably paying more attention to his words than anything else. The brunette had never done that before. It was as if she couldn't stand to even bare the sight of him, as if she already knew that he was going to say something horrible. But she was still there, wasn't she.

He didn't think it'd be a smart idea to call it a game, but what choice did he have? "Look at me, Hermione," he commanded. Harry needed her to look at him, to see him speaking the truth even more than hearing it happen. "This is going to sound, well, absolutely insane. And I'd understand if you never want to talk to me again after this, but please just hear me out..."

She was looking at him again, her eyes softening yet still calculating. A puff of breath left him as he pondered how to begin, suddenly finding the ceiling much more interesting than his best friend's hazel eyes. Within a few skyward eye-blinks, inspiration struck him like a sledgehammer on a nail.

He flicked open his **Main Menu** , went to the **Party** tab, then looked through his choices. a notification pinged, informing him of an update to the **User Interface** of his **Menu System**. Luckily he already scattered his Skill Points about, so he didn't have to worry about it now.

"Oh, okay. So I can use voice-commands now? Interesting," he murmured, before turning to the very confused person sitting only a few feet away from him. " **[Party Invite: Send to Hermione Granger]** ," he announced to the world.

And then the young woman in question promptly jumped back a few feet, landing on one of his pillows. Her eyes were darting back and forth across the air in front of her, reading something that Harry himself couldn't see.

"Explain. Now."

* * *

 **(A Few Days Later)**

"So we can't perform a blood adoption ritual until you've been exonerated?" asked Harry, nonplussed. Even though this was the dozenth time he tried to persuade the denizens of the dilapidated domicile to carry on with the ritual anyway.

Hermione just rolled her eyes at his impotent relentlessness, before opening a book entitled, 'Theoretical Metaphysics: Impractical Applications,' and tuning everybody else out. Harry was really starting to regret introducing her to the veritable treasure trove of tomes and books that made up the Black Family's private library.

"That would be the best, yeah," answered a long suffered Sirius, equally bemused at how responsible he was being, even though his conviction was weakening every time the boy asked. "If we went ahead and did it, then everyone would know that you had contact with me, and then things would get very bad for you, really quick."

"You already know this, Harry," Hermione chided without looking up from her book, feeling the need to remind him that his obstinate attitude on the matter was annoying to her.

He just mock-scowled at her, before Tonks interrupted his witty retort by saying, "But don't worry, we've got a plan in place that should make things a bit easier." While Harry's attention was diverted, Sirius began shoveling strawberry pancakes into his mouth like a madman.

"And that'd be what, exactly?" he said, blinking slowly at the pair of adults that had apparently formed a plan without his knowledge. This part of the conversation was new. Hermione's eyes stopped moving and her ears, even hidden behind a mane of bushy hair, perked up. Even she was interested in the development.

"My dad," began Tonks, "-works at a firm called Dresden and Tonks, as a defense attorney. He can act as both barrister and solicitor, so he's actually quite successful. His partner, Harry Dresden, is an American wizard that practices a different school of magic than we do, and is subject to different laws by a different ruling body. This makes him a very unusual private investigator, though no less successful than my father."

"Really, a different school of magic and laws? Care to elaborate?" Hermione asked excitedly. Harry remembered what his **Class** was, a wand-wizard, and he suddenly found his interest in the other styles of magic to be piqued, for lack of a better word.

"Not particularly, but you can research the White Council later; we don't have enough time to go over something totally irrelevant to the plot like that," said Sirius, his lips twitching with barely restrained amusement.

"You get a kick out of leaving me in the dark, don't you?" Harry asked in mock outrage.

"Only on unimportant matters, my godson." It was the holier-than-thou attitude backing those words up that made Harry roll his eyes, though the content wasn't much better. Then Sirius turned serious, "We need to come up with a way to convince Dresden and Tonks that I'm innocent, at least enough for them to look into my case for me. This could be our best shot at clearing my name, while you two are at Hogwarts."

Harry and Tonks exchanged a look, but didn't say anything.

"... I think I have an idea," she said, her eyes still connecting with Harry's. "And it has to do with a special ability of Dresden's..." And so, they began preparing, hoping that Harry Dresden proved to be the Deus Ex Machina that they needed.

* * *

 **(Platform Nine and Three Quarters)**

Harry stood at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, taking in the hustle and bustle of people boarding the train. He'd only just arrived, giving himself half an hour to mingle with his school friends and their families. Since he'd never really done it this way before, he wasn't actually sure what to expect. So, to keep himself occupied, he opened his menu.

* * *

 **Party** (+2):

 **Hedwig**

 **Information:**

 **Name:** Hedwig  
 **Age:** 4  
 **Level:** 14 **  
Experience:** 5500/7500  
 **Title:** N/A  
 **Class:** Phoenix Familiar  
 **Affiliation:** Harry Potter **  
Alignment:** Neutral

 **Atrributes:**

 **Strength** (5)  
 **Perception** (5)  
 **Endurance** (5)  
 **Charisma** (5)  
 **Intelligence** (5)  
 **Agility** (5)  
 **Wisdom** (5)  
 **Luck** (5)

* * *

 **Hermione** :

 **Name:** Hermione Granger  
 **Age:** 14  
 **Level:** 5 **  
Experience:** 200/750  
 **Title:** Bookworm  
 **Class:** Wand-Wizard  
 **Affiliation:** Hogwarts **  
Alignment:** Neutral

 **Atrributes:**

 **Strength** (2)  
 **Perception** (7)  
 **Endurance** (1)  
 **Charisma** (2)  
 **Intelligence** (10)  
 **Agility** (2)  
 **Wisdom** (9)  
 **Luck** (2)

* * *

Hermione, the object of his curiosity, sat on his left. Harry thought that, since being made aware of the **Game** was a condition for him gaining some semblence of control over it, the same would happen for her. Except, it wasn't _quite_ that simple.

After he explained everything to her, she began experimenting to see if there were any differences between their situations. Since they couldn't directly see each other's menus, they had to just describe what they saw to each other. She, it turned out, apparently only had two choices for her **Main Menu** : **Inventory** and **Data**.

And her **Data** submenu only had **Information** and **Attributes**. So either Harry was somehow a more important player than she was, or... she wasn't a player at all. And if that meant that she was simply a part of the **Game** , rather than a player of the **Game**... Harry didn't want to think about it. And neither, it seemed, did Hermione.

On his right sat Tonks, who was in the form of a girl named Fay Dunbar. Fay was a loner that shared a dorm with Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati. Apparently the girl had decided that the wizarding world wasn't for her, and went back to mundane schooling without telling anyone. It was the perfect cover for Tonks, so that's the route they took.

As they moved through the crowd, he started noticing a subtle difference in the attention that was directed at him. He was used to being stared at wherever he went in the magical world, being internationally famous for surviving the killing curse from a reputable dark lord as a baby. The white phoenix on his shoulder didn't seem to be helping with that, though an increase in his fame didn't feel like it'd warrant this feeling.

The difference, it seemed, was stemming from the females around him.

 _"It's not that surprising, really. Every **Attribute** affects your physique to some extent, with **Charisma** being no different; it makes you more attractive in general. While it's currently at four, your perk **Lady Killer** raises it to 8 for females, and **Master Debater** raises it even further to 12 for them. Keep in mind that most humans can only reach 10 in any given **Attribute** , and you'll see why you're so popular with the ladies now..."_ said Hedwig, nothing more than a susurrus.

She didn't speak up often. But when she did, it usually added quite a bit to his knowledge base. He looked like a 4 to all the males around him, but a 12 to all the females. He wondered if this would actually adversely affect his popularity with the boys, but decided that it wouldn't really matter in the end anyway.

Looking around, he saw Neville with his Grandmother. Harry smiled and approached his dormmate, with Tonks in tow. "Hello Misses Longbottam. Neville, it's nice to see you again. How was your summer?" he started off the conversation.

"Pretty good. I didn't get to go to the World Cup, but I bet it was fun," Neville said wistfully. "Gran finally convinced me to get my own wand this summer too. I've been using my dad's this whole time, you see, and apparently wandwork is a lot more effective when using a wand that actually chose to be with you..." As he said this, the boy pulled out a beautiful baton. "It's holly and dragon heart-string..."

"You managed to receive average grades while severely handicapped like that? That's incredible, Nev! Ron almost got kicked out for his grades in second year, after his wand broke and we fixed it up with spell-o-tape..." said Harry, grinning happily at his friend. He didn't doubt that this year would be far different for Neville than any of the previous ones.

Neville blushed, unused to high praises, and muttered, "Thanks, Harry." Then he blinked at Harry and said, "What happened to your glasses? And how're you so much taller than me now?" Though, the second statement appeared to be more in jest than a serious query, Harry decided a faux superior smirk would be the best answer.

The boy's grandmother smiled extremely fondly at Harry's smug silence and said, "You are too kind, Mister Potter. Neville has mentioned several times how well you've treated him as a schoolmate. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask. The Potter and Longbottom families do have deep connections with each other, after all..."

Harry smiled at her. "Thanks for your support, Madame Longbottom. I'll be sure to remember your offer in the future." And then the crowd forced them to part ways. And so Harry ended up having very similar conversations with the families of his other dormmates Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, who also only had mother figures in their lives. And, being female, their mothers were easily charmed by Harry.

Before long, time was starting to run out so he and his shadows went ahead and got their seats on the train, with Neville joining them. It wasn't until about a minute before departure that the Weasley family with Luna Lovegood in tow exploded onto the scene. They made an enormous spectacle of boarding the train in less than a minute, saying all of their goodbyes, and then finding seats.

Ginny ended up sitting with Harry, with Ron being conspicuously absent. Neither Harry, Hermione, nor Tonks decided to comment on that, since it was obvious that the boy was still fuming about how Harry caught the spotlight at the World Cup multiple times. The redhead probably sat with Dean and Seamus, wherever they were.

Between catching the escaped snitch in front of a hundred thousand people, and receiving a kiss from a veela for helping the young woman find her family, Ron was quite jealous of Harry for the time being. And on top of that, Harry didn't need his glasses anymore, and was no longer a scrawny little kid. The supplements Kreacher worked into his food, along with his **Charisma** were making him into a very healthy and attractive fourteen year-old.

This was evident by the smouldering look that Ginny was sending him, far more confident than the deer-in-headlights look that he was used to getting from her. For some reason, Hermione wasn't acting any differently than she normally would, other than having pink cheeks after giving him a gigantic hug.

Then his mind was brought back to reality.

"So Fay, how was your summer?" asked Neville, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. The Boy-Who-Lived noticed that the other boy was blushing a bit around her, and a small bit of unease rested in his stomach; he didn't want the boy to get his hopes up for someone that wasn't who he thought she was. Perhaps there was some other feeling whirling around his stomach, but he was going to ignore that for the time being.

Tonks almost didn't remember that this was her name, but luckily answered after a moment of hesitation, "It was pretty good. The World Cup was right entertaining, until the riots started."

"I can't believe the Dark Mark was conjured," Neville said quietly.

"And there goes the mood," Harry muttered, barely loud enough for Hermione to hear. She swatted him on the arm, her red lips twitching and hazel eyes twinkling. Then she turned back to the other boy and started explaining what happened with animated gesticulations to top it off. Harry and Neville shared a surreptitious look, before turning back to the discussion at hand.

This sprouted into a conversation about the riots altogether, covering the involvement of Barty Crouch Senior's personal house-elf and a stolen wand. This then moved onto Hermione wanting to start a crusade for house-elf rights, and everybody else convincing her to at least research the subject before sticking her nose in it and trying to change things.

The door to their compartment swung open, revealing Malfoy and his two cronies. "Hello Scarhead, Scarhead's Mudblood Whore, Scarhead's Blood Traitor Whore, Scarhead's Pet Squib, and... who's that?" said Draco, pointing rudely at Tonks, who looked offended on behalf of the shy girl that she was impersonating.

"I'm Fay Dunbar?" said Tonks slowly, as if expecting the name to ring a bell with the blond ponce in front of her.

Malfoy's steel eyes swept over her, before he donned a (seemingly) charming smile. "And it's nice to meet you, Miss Dunbar. I can see that you must be a transfer student to our school, otherwise you wouldn't be roughing it with Potter and his pets. I can introduce you to the right people, for a price..." That last sentence was said while he was staring quite overtly staring at her chest.

Fay blinked at Draco, then looked over at Harry with a raised eyebrow. He surreptitiously nodded, with a nigh imperceptible smirk on his face. She rolled her eyes, turned back to the expectant boy, and gave a predatory smile. "That sounds like fun. Malfoy, was it? Please, lead the way..." And then they left, Malfoy having forgotten to rub their noses in the fact that he already knew about the Triwizard Tournament.

Neville, not knowing Fay very well, seemed completely shocked that she apparently abandoned them to Malfoy of all people. Ginny and Hermione started giggling, knowing that something very bad was going to happen to Malfoy soon. With that little hiccup out of the way, they got back into the rhythm of conversation before long.

"So Hermione, what's the White Council?" asked Harry, having just remembered to ask since he never got around to researching it.

The girl's hazel eyes lit up with glee as she began explaining, "The White Council is one of the four branches of the Mages Association. A legislative and judicial body located in Edinburgh, the White Council's main purpose is the enforcement of regulations on the practices of wand-less magic. Their leader, Arthur Langtry, is said to be just as powerful as Albus Dumbledore and Lorelei Bartholomeloi of the Clocktower..."

Harry began to tune her out after a bit, and idly wondered what it was about Britain that caused it to produce more powerful wizards than anywhere else. Perhaps there was something in the water...? At that moment, about the point that Harry's attention began to waver, the trolley lady called for people to get their candy fixes from the corridor outside.

"Hold that thought, Hermione. Who wants some candy?" Harry asked, grinning between the two girls and Neville. There was a chorus of affirmative responses, so he just grinned and left the compartment with a handful of gold coins. And just as his foot crossed the threshold-

"LOOK OUT!" yelled someone nearby, accompanied by several screams, which shifted into peals of laughter quite abruptly.

Crabbe had tentacles coming out of his ears that were slapping his face and butt, and Goyle was getting attacked by bats of some sort, with even more of the winged marsupials _erupting from his nose_ as Harry watched. Malfoy was stuck to the ceiling, his skin green with purple polka dots and orange zigzagging lines racing across it. In the middle of this chaos was Tonks, smiling contentedly with a lollipop in her mouth and surrounded by a thick crowd of onlookers that Harry would never be able to navigate through.

"... the fuck?" was all Harry could muster up the energy to say. The compartment door opened up behind him, with Ginny, Neville, and Hermione sticking their heads out to see what all the fuss was about. Harry just shook his head and turned back to the trolley woman, who was laughing just as hard as everyone else. "Excuse me, can I get one of everything?"

Wiping a mirthful tear from her eye, she answered, "Of course dearie. And Miss Duncan over there explained the lollipop was part of your tab already." The nice old lady seemed to think that the Slytherin trio deserved their fates, or else she would have already punished Tonks and reversed the damage. Malfoy really must've done something horrible for all of that mess to be forgiven so easily.

"So she got a lollipop, started sucking on it, and then started firing off spells?" he asked, trying to at least make some sense of the scene that he happened across. The mental image sent Ginny into a fit of powerful giggles, and she had to retreat back into the compartment for some air.

"That's not exactly what happened," said Cho Chang, one of the bystanders. "She got the sucker, then Malfoy said something to her, and she went ballistic for a couple seconds there. Honestly, I didn't know there was anyone our age that could cast spells that fast..."

Harry turned to her, only just now noticing her presence, and asked, "What exactly did Malfoy say?"

Cho blinked at him, then smiled coyly, "I don't really know, though I'm sure I can make some guesses. Why don't you join us in our compartment and we can talk all about it?" The way she worded that was incredibly weird to him, like she didn't want to talk with him about anything pertinent to the current situation at all.

He just tilted his head to the side. "If you don't know, why would I want an in-depth conversation about it with you?" he asked rhetorically, and completely oblivious to all of the implied rejection in his words.

"I know," said Susan Bones, another witness that was closer to the action. He zeroed in on her, not seeing the downcast eyes of the girl that he somewhat had a kinda crush on, maybe. "He said, 'Why don't you show me how good at sucking you really are?' and then she replied really quietly, and then he started yelling, 'You're just a mudblood whore like Granger and don't deserve the pleasure of-' but that's when she started cursing," explained the girl.

"So he definitely deserved it? Thanks," said Harry. "It's nice to see you again, by the way. How did the internship go for the rest of summer, Susan?"

"Oh, as good as can be expected," she said, fidgeting uncomfortably with the eyes of everybody nearby on her, since she was talking to _him_. Or perhaps she just didn't know how to handle Harry's attention anymore. "How did your bloodline patent turn out?" asked the young woman, hoping to keep the conversation going.

"Oh, as good as can be expected," he parroted back, smirking a little. "It turns out I'm the Heir of Merlin, or something like that."

* * *

 **Speech Check: Success**

 **Charisma Trained!  
Charisma Currently: 5**

* * *

All motion came to a drastic halt, and sound became muted as everybody turned to him with held breaths. He blinked, then realized that, from their perspective, that scenario probably wasn't that far-fetched. Him being the Boy-Who-Lived and all. And that, combined with his enhanced **Charisma** , probably meant that they all truly believed what he just said. That could get out of hand quickly.

"... Is there any way you'd all believe me if I told you that wasn't true?" he asked facetiously, rolling his eyes at how gullible the people around him were.

* * *

 **Speech Check: Fail**

 **Renown Increased!  
New Title Unlocked: Heir of Merlin**

* * *

That made him pause and think about what just happened. He gulped. "Fuck me," he groaned, seriously annoyed at the world around him. Because, due to the infamous rumor mill of Hogwarts and its unique ability to propagate news from students to parents to the rest of society, he knew he'd be known as the Heir of Merlin the world over by the same time tomorrow.

"I'll do it!" volunteered an unsorted first year girl nearby.

Harry just pinched the bridge of his nose, gathered his assorted sugary confections, and returned to his compartment without another word to anyone. He sat down and started digging into his snacks.

"So would I," said a feminine voice that he wasn't familiar with. Harry just sighed and turned his attention to somebody that was suddenly also in their compartment. She was just feeling up his biceps and he didn't know what to do about it. "... And that doesn't even have anything to do with your **Charisma** ," she remarked. He and Hermione both locked onto the stranger. And it turned out that they weren't even truly unacquainted.

"Luna Lovegood," said Hermione slowly, taking in the fact that the younger blonde girl was reading a farcical magazine upside down. "What was that about Harry's **Charisma** , again? I didn't quite catch it." But Luna ignored that question and continued airily reading.

"I've learned its best not to question the more eccentric things she says," supplied Ginny, shrugging unhelpfully at the object of her affection.

Harry just blinked at her, before turning to the enigmatic newcomer to the group. "The way you said that though... It just felt important to me. Care to elaborate?" he ventured, hoping that somehow this girl could provide him with answers to some of his more abstract questions. Like, for instance, what exactly was going on with Hermione.

For a brief moment, he saw a tiny frown mar her face. Or he thought he did, anyway. It was such a fleeting impression that he could have simply imagined it. But something told him that it wasn't just a trick of the light, or his eyes playing tricks on him. She knew something, something important. But she also wasn't talking.

"Luna-"

"Do you expect me to help you without anything in return?" she asked, her lilting voice distorting the nature of her question. Ginny, Neville, and Tonks were all looking incredibly confused by the current turn of events. All three were sitting back and hungrily watching events unfold.

"What do you want?" asked Hermione on his behalf, glaring daggers at the blonde waif that had so thoroughly ignored her. The tension in the compartment _could_ be cut with a lightsaber, but it would still put up a hell of a lot of resistance.

The girl finally sat her magazine down. "I do have a request, but it's for Harry's ears only. I'll tell him later though. You and Fay are about to get summoned by a teacher, and I doubt you'll like the way that meeting goes," she said, just as she stood and opened the compartment door. "Oh, and thanks for gathering the glubglubglubs all in one place; it made gathering them much easier."

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: For the Love of Good**  
 **Objective 1: Hear Luna Lovegood's Request**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 5,000 EXP; ?**

* * *

"Well that was odd," announced Ginny. "But I-"

The door slammed open again, this time by none other than a blushing Cho Chang. Everyone turned to look at her, but she ignored them for the most part. "Hi Harry. Erm, the new professor, Professor Slughorn, wanted me to give this to you," she said, handing him a slip of paper as she talked, "Oh, Duncan, it's also for you too..." She stood there awkwardly for a solid fifteen seconds, before finally blurting, "Ah, bye Harry," and beating a hasty retreat.

Harry and Tonks shrugged at each other.

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: The Slug Club**  
 **Objective 1: Meet Slughorn For Lunch**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 750 EXP; ?**

* * *

Harry read the paper, which turned out to be an invitation of sorts. He turned to Fay and muttered, "Fancy meeting our new Defense teacher?" She just gave a noncommittal shrug. "You too, I suppose?" he asked Hermione, deciding to bring her along even if she wasn't invited; he'd rather not have to retell everything that happened immediately after it was over.

With affirmatives from both girls, they left to go see what this Slug Club was all about.

* * *

 **(A Few Hours Later)**

The Sorting Ceremony had just finished, and everyone was tucking into their food. Students left and right were catching up on summer gossip with those they hadn't met on the train, or explaining things to the school's newcomers. This year's sorting was especially long, what with Ron loudly moaning about wanting food throughout the entire ceremony. Luckily he was seated far enough away that Harry didn't mind the whining.

Now that they were eating and the noise level had risen, Ron's prattling had disappeared into the wall of sound.

Harry was seating between Tonks and Hermione, quite happily. All the other girls around them were being a bit annoying with their newfound lust for him; he was starting to regret purchasing the perks that he had, though it was a nice boost to his self-esteem. Recounting what happened in the Slug Club's compartment with Hermione and Ginny helped him ignore it for now though.

"So you weren't punished at all?" Hermione asked Tonks, unsure of how to react to that bit of news. At the metamorph's happy shrug, the brunette scowled and moved onto her next question. "And this new professor... does he strike you as the sort to pick favorites?" she queried, looking thoroughly unhappy at this turn of events. She liked her instructors to be professional, after all.

"Definitely," said Harry, his face carefully blank. "I'm not sure if I like all the people he called into that compartment. Diggory and Chang were cool, and so were Greengrass and Davis. But Zabini, McLaggen, Nott, and Malfoy...? It's a mixed bunch, really. I also think Slughorn picked up on the fact that I won't be getting along well with Nott and Malfoy. I wonder who he'll choose, if it comes down to it?"

The Malfoy's coin or the Potter's fame?

However it was at this point that the dinng was finally over. Dumbledore stood at the podium, his eyes twinkling at the absolute silence that this motion brought about. "Good evening, students old and new. Now that you've been fed and watered, I have a few notices to inform you all about," said the genial old man.

There was a susurrus of murmurs at this proclamation. It seemed that quite a few students had picked up on the fact that some major event was occurring at Hogwarts this school year, but few knew what it was.

"The inter-house quidditch tournament has been cancelled this year," said the man, ignoring the outcries from Gryffindor and Slytherin. "We are instead having an inter-school championship between ourselves and our two rival schools, the Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang Institute. Tryouts will be held tomorrow afternoon." The earlier outrage was now replaced with mounting excitement, with even the Hufflepuffs joining in.

Oliver Wood was crying tears of relief, and several people started scooting away from him.

"Moreover, there will also be dueling tournaments and broom racing competitions, as well as academic and debate team matches," said Dumbledore. And now every student, even the Ravenclaws, were starting to animatedly talk with each other. The old man waited about fifteen seconds for discussions to fade away, before continuing, "This is due to a prestigious event that is occurring this year. I am proud to announce that Hogwarts is cohosting the Triwizard Tournament alongside Beauxbatons and Durmstrang!"

The atmosphere in the Great Hall was now electric, students cheering and screaming everywhere. It was common knowledge that the Triwizard Tournament hadn't been held in several centuries, due to their death tolls. The fact that this ancient tradition was getting reinstated was simply too amazing to be true.

"Yes, we are all making history this year. This is why there are going to be quite a few organizational changes for this coming school year. First of all, every classroom has been expanded so that all classes may include all four houses at once. This is for the efficiency of your instructors' time, because they have all taken on more responsibility than normal this year. But, I will elaborate on the reason behind this later," said the headmaster, smiling at everyone around him.

"Incidentally, the school year has been changed from two semesters, to three trimesters. This will not affect the weight of your grades for this school year. It is for the benefit of each school's Champions, though the reasons for that will be revealed during the Champion Selection Ceremony on Halloween," remarked Dumbledore.

"And now, there are only a few more announcements for me to make, so please settle down. We are proud to bring an old colleague of mine back from retirement, Professor Slughorn!" announced Dumbledore, smiling softly at the polite yet impatient applause from the student body. "He will be replacing Professor Snape as the Potioneering Instructor. Professor Snape has been accepted as our resident Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

Slytherin exploded into cheers, while everyone else was far more subdued.

"And on that note, due to the fact that our school will have an influx of foreign witches as wizards, we have hired on Sir Alastor Moody as our new Head of Security!" added Dumbledore happily, just as the door to the Great Hall banged open and said man shambled inside. "I assure you all that he is far more than qualified to handle such a task."

It was at this moment that the intruder smiled a gnarled grin, his spinning eye focusing on Tonks for a brief moment, before continuing its insane motions. Said disguised woman shuffled a hair closer to Harry, as if to protect him from her mentor.

"This should be an interesting year," Harry remarked, suddenly aware that Tonks's hips were brushing against his own.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Just a reminder; I have put up a poll for Abilities that Harry will gain from [ Fiction Adaption]. Would you kindly go and vote on it?**


	9. Act Two: The First Day of School

**Author's Note: Before you read this chapter, just know that the pairing for this story is now Harry/Fleur/Tonks. The exact nature of the relationship will be quite complicated, so please don't just assume that I'm making Harry into a horny pig or anything like that. Also, the current winner of the poll is Naruto's Shadow Clone Jutsu, followed by Wolverine's Healing Factor. They are winning by a large margin, but I think you lot should look into One-Punch Man because it's the most amazing anime I've seen in a long while. So, without further ado, I present to you:**

 **Act Two: The First Day of School**

* * *

Harry was absently lying on his bed for several minutes the next morning. thinking about how weird his life was in comparison to the average muggle. Beyond even his ability to use magic, there was the whole **Game** thing too. He wondered why he saw reality this way, and contemplated the peculiarity of his existence for another short while until he heard Neville starting to move about.

He rolled out of bed groggily and made his way to their communal bathroom. Dobby, who followed him to Hogwarts to be his personal elf, began his typical morning ritual. The fact that Harry happened to be using the toilet didn't bother the elf overly much, and the young wizard was too distracted by the magically heated seat to care one way or the other.

Magic was the greatest luxury of all. It's the reason that magical people considered themselves to be so far beyond their mundane brethren, and Harry honestly couldn't even fault them for it after experiencing it firsthand. It was just a shame that not every human could live like that.

"Hey Dobby, when you aren't tending to me, you can join the Hogwarts staff of house elves if you want. I know how much you love to work," said the young man, happy with how his morning was going so far. Dobby bounced about while happily proclaiming him to be 'the most greatest master in all the worlds'. Then the elf left him to his own devices.

About ten minutes later, he met Tonks and Hermione in the common room. They exchanged the typical pleasantries and began marching to the Great Hall for breakfast. "I still can't believe that all food can have vitamins and nutrients just magically added to it without sacrificing the taste," said Hermione. "I was reading _'Culinary Arts for the Modern Witch'_ , and found out all these amazing spells that can make even something like cake into a super food."

"That's probably why there aren't very many overweight witches or wizards," Harry contemplated aloud. "And even if there were unhealthy ones, I'm sure those problems could get fixed instantly with a potion or spell..." This conversation carried them all the way to the Gryffindor table, where they plopped down and happily began eating donuts and other such fattening foods without feeling self-conscious about their eating habits.

As time went on, more of their housemates began to join them, and the noise level of the giant room steadily grew as the morning wore on. Several people had copies of the _Daily Prophet_ that had his picture on the front cover, under the headline, _'Is the Boy-Who-Lived the Heir-Of-Merline?'_ He just shook his head and ignored the influx of eyes training on him.

"So Harry, you trying out for seeker?" asked Oliver, vibrating in his seat from the sheer excitement that he felt. "It's not everyday that you get to play against foreigners, you know?" continued the quidditch fanatic without giving Harry a chance to respond, "I can't wait to see how we stack up against them..."

* * *

 **Quest Unlocked: Seeking the Thrill**  
 **Objective 1: Try Out For the Seeker Position**  
 **Objective 2: ?**  
 **Completion Reward: 5000 EXP; Increased Renown**

* * *

"... I think I will," said Harry, eyeing the experience reward warily, after the other boy stopped waxing poetry about his favorite sport. "And I think it goes without saying that you're trying out for keeper?" Oliver was being scouted for the professional team Puddlemere United, which meant that he was going to need a seriously impressive resume. And this was the perfect opportunity for that.

"Obviously. Our entire team is gonna go for it. I hope we all make it, but the competition will be serious. You better watch out for Chang and Diggory, Harry. They've been staring at you all morning. Well, Malfoy has too, but it isn't like he's an actual threat, is he?" Oliver spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice. Everybody knew the rich boy wouldn't even be on his house team without his father's money.

And Madam Hooch, the impartial judge for the tryouts, wasn't likely to be bought out so easily.

"Of course if you don't get it," began George, butting in on the conversation, "-we _are_ going to disown you."  
"We'll _also_ declare open season on you," added Fred with a grin. "You're only safe if we need you to win..."  
"So you should _definitely_ try your best," continued the first one, his brown eyes twinkling with danger.

"He'll keep that in mind," said Tonks airily, though there was a slight tension in the way she regarded them. Harry couldn't help but wonder if the twins were ready for a turf war with the auror, having seen how quickly she could make mincemeat of Malfoy and his goons. She was actually surprisingly possessive of him too, what with her need to constantly be touching him in some way.

"Speaking of minds," said the bookworm, probably bored to tears with all of this talk about sports, "-our class schedules are getting passed out as we speak." And indeed she was right, as everyone soon discovered. So within moments, there was a lull in conversation as everybody learned their new itinerary.

"So I've got Defense first, Transfiguration second, Potions third, and Divination fourth today," said Harry. Unsurprisingly, his bodyguard had the exact same schedule as him, though he knew for a fact that Hermione wouldn't be sharing their last class of the day. "I wonder how Slughorn is gonna teach Potions," he mused. The man couldn't be as bad as Snape.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," the bushy-haired girl said. "If anything, I'm worried about how Snape will be for Defense. I hope his temperament is better when he's teaching the entire year at once. But, something tells me that it won't be..." Everybody winced at that. Defense, being a more practical course that Potions, meant that Snape would now have a legitimate excuse to mildly curse the students in his tender care.

"Oh look, the mail's here," came Tonks's voice. A flurry of post owls began pouring into the Great Hall, dropping off all assortments of packages to various students. And as Hedwig dropped a letter off for Harry, the whole hall quieted for a moment as they all took it in. Rumors had been spreading that Harry had a phoenix now, but a lot of people probably took that news with a grain of salt.

"It's a letter from Sirius," muttered Harry excitedly. He tore it open and began to ravenously read.

"What's it say?" asked Hermione.

Tonks, reading over Harry's shoulder, answered for him, "He's happy with how my father's firm is treating him. They actually got him political asylum in France, so he can get medical treatment; I guess being demented for over a decade would require specialists to fix. Anyway, they've taken his case and have started searching for clues to clear his name in court, and have quietly started the legal process to exonerate him."

Smiles were had all around at that bit of news. They then promptly finished their meal and began their journey to the Defense classroom.

On the way there, Tonks spoke up, "Harry, I've been thinking about the logistics of my assignment." She waited a few beats for that statement to sink in, before adding, "I think it'd be a lot easier if we were to start publicly dating. It would make my being around you constantly even easier to explain. It would also keep all of the boys off my back and the girls off of yours."

Hermione tripped, but regained her footing silently.

"That could work," Harry said, ruminating on her proposal. "Although I'm not sure if I want a buffer against _all_ the girls that want to date me. Just, like, the one's that I don't wanna date." They all continued walking in silence for a few more minutes, before he amended, "Well, how would we go about doing that anyway? Would we, ah, start making out in conspicuous places, or...?"

A feral grin formed on her face, and she answered, "I was thinking something more simple like just holding hands and hugging, but if you _really_ want to..." The twinkle in her eyes made the hairs on Harry's neck raise, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"I'm not sure if I could fake being with someone like that though," said Harry, his eyes unfocused as he really thought about it. "I mean, I think it'd be nice and all, but I'd want my first romantic relationship to at least be somewhat genuine. I know that they don't really last at our age, but I'd be a lot more comfortable if I was actually dating somebody, you know?"

* * *

 **Hermione Liked That**  
 **Your Relationship With Her Has Improved**

 **Nymphadora Really Liked That**  
 **Your Relationship With Her Has Greatly Improved  
(Consider Adding Her to Your Party)  
**

* * *

He coughed, and decided that he was going to bring Nymphadora in on the **Game** at the end of the day.

The two girls looked at each other, exchanging small smiles before one stared at the ceiling and the other started looking out the windows that they were passing by. They all settled into a comfortable silence as they moved, each thinking about their convoluted relationships with each other. While Tonks was ordered to look after Harry, she'd grown to enjoy his company as they spent more time together. And Hermione knew more of Harry's secrets than anybody alive, even being a part of his latest one.

"Ah, here we are," Hermione announced as they arrived outside of their destination.

They were the only ones there so far, so they leaned against the wall and continued to stand in companionable silence. Until Tonks broke it, that is. "You're a good man, Harry. I respect your decision. But, if you should ever change your mind..." she said, allowing her final statement to linger in the air, coloring the ancient castle's atmosphere with the scent of opportunity.

Harry smiled at her, muttering softly, "For a second there, it almost felt like you actually want to be with me." But the thought was ludicrous; she was a grown woman and his bodyguard, while he was just a teenager. The thought of anything happening between them was laughable. She probably just saw him as a kid, or maybe even a-

Her fingers brushed gently down his arm, before she gave him a warm hug. And in a whisper that was almost so quiet as to be negligible, the young woman said, "Perhaps, after that little speech, I do?" Her breath was warm, and it sent tingles down his spine when it touched his ear. He was very suddenly intimately aware of her supple chest pressed against him.

The Boy-Who-Lived gulped, and hugged her back. And then as a bunch of their classmates rounded the corner to their hallway, he made a decision. It was a reckless and stupid and idiotic decision, but something deep within him drove him to do it. He kissed her. And she kissed him back. It was gentle, and even a little tremulous, but it held a lot of power in it. All of the sound in the hallway ceased, and all Harry cared about was the girl in front of him, and the feel of her soft lips on his own.

"Damn Harry," said Dean Thomas, one of the people that just joined the queue for the classroom. "I didn't take you to be the voyeuristic type..." And, as it turned out, Dean wasn't the only person leering at them. It seemed that the majority of the fourth-year students arrived simultaneously, in time to see that disply.

It was odd how many people were staring at him and Tonks, already gossiping among themselves about what they just witnessed. And Harry knew, within a matter of hours, the whole school would know that they were an item, much like how the rumors of his heritage spiraled quickly out of control. Time to at least attempt some damage control.

"Ah, sorry about that," said Harry, both to Tonks for springing the kiss on her without advance notice, and to all the gawking bystanders. His eyes never left hers though, so he saw the almost imperceptible nod of her head: they were going to be an actual couple from this point on. They would work out the exact specifics once they were alone together.

At that moment, the doorway opened and Snape stood menacingly at the threshold. "Well? What are you all standing around for?" snapped the former potions professor. It seemed that this class wouldn't be very fun anymore...

* * *

 **(Several Hours Later)**

Harry stood in a line with several other potential seekers. His only real competition was Cho Chang in his opinion. Malfoy wasn't a threat, Cormac McLaggen was a non-entity, and Ginny... He wasn't sure if he'd ever seen her actually fly a broom the entire time he'd known the Weasley family. Oddly enough, Cedric had tried out for a different position.

They were the last set of tryouts, with the rest of the team already being picked. Fred and George were the best beaters in Hogwarts even when separated, but together they were a powerhouse duo that didn't even need to communicate to set plays up on the fly. The chasers were comprised of Roger Davies, Cedric Diggory, and Katie Bell (Katie was happy to be this close to two of the most eligible bachelors in the school, to put it mildly). And Oliver Wood was the keeper.

The crowd of onlookers had grown substantially, since Malfoy had loudly boasted about how he would easily become the seeker for the school. A betting pool had formed over how horribly he would do, started by the Weasley twins. Then people started placing bets on who would win, and by how far of a margin they would win.

For this exercise, they were all using the same kind of broomstick to showcase their skills on equal footing. Something told Harry that, even though he didn't want to be full of himself, he was a better flier than ny of the other candidates.

"Now here is what you're going to do," began Madam Hooch, looking over the four. "I am going to release ten snitches at once. You must remain on the ground for a minute as they spread out. Then, you have six minutes to capture as many snitches as you can. The person with the most snitches wins, and becomes the seeker for the Hogwarts team. Good luck."

And then all of the snitches were released, and Harry's stomach did a somersault. Each one of those snitches were Special Golden Snitches; this was his chance to unlock a **Cheat**! He calmly slowed his breathing, and activated his **[ Sharingan]**. Even though it wasn't exactly the most sportsmanlike thing to do, he was not going to pass up an opportunity like this.

As soon as the whistle blew, he was rocketing through the air with unprecedented aim towards the nearest snitch. Considering the fact that each one was practically glaring to his new eyes, each with two tomoe apiece now, it wasn't very hard to find them. And with the predictive capabilities granted to him by the **[ Sharingan] **he didn't have to work hard to even track them.

In the end, he caught eight of the ten Special Golden Snitches. Cho caught one of the remainders, and surprisingly Ginny caught the other.

* * *

 **Congratulations, You Caught a Special Golden Snitch!  
Cheats Are Unlocked Via Catching Special Golden Snitches!  
**

 **Special Golden Snitches Required to Unlock Next Cheat: 10**  
 **Special Golden Snitches Acquired: 10  
**

 **Cheat Unlocked! Please Choose One of the Following:**

 **Double Attribute/Perk Points Awarded For Leveling Up  
Double Skill Level Increases, and Bonuses From Skills  
Double Experience Gained From Any Action**

* * *

His jaw dropped at what he was being offered. The potential for these **Cheats** was insane, but the one that had the most immediate benefit would be the last one. So he chose **Double Experience Gained From Any Action** and noticed that it popped up in a second tier of his **Perks** submenu. Now, it would take him half as much time to **Level Up**.

He was almost giddy with excitement when he was hit by another announcement from the game.

* * *

 **Objective Completed:** ** **Try Out For the Seeker Position  
** Completion Reward: 2(300) EXP**

 **Objective Unlocked: Win the Match Against Beauxbatons**

* * *

Harry grinned as he was joined by Tonks and Hermione on the field, taking in the rain of compliments and congratulations that everyone was throwing his way. Quite happily, the trio made their way back to the common room. Harry and Tonks had linked arms, and everybody was laughing at jokes and just generally having a good time as they moved through the marble corridors.

That's when their paths crossed with Luna Lovegood, who was watching them with that airy look about her face.

"Good evening, Harry. Do you mind if I talk to you in private for a moment? It won't take too long, I promise. And I'm sure you'll appreciate it anyway..." said the wispy blonde. Remembering that she played a central role in one of his **Quests** , as well as the fact that she somehow knew about his situation, he nodded seriously back at her.

"Yeah, I can do that," he answered, extracting himself from Tonks's arm. "You two can go on ahead, by the way," he added for their benefit, seeing how he didn't actually know how long this conversation was going to be. The two girls hesitated for a moment, before shrugging and continuing on their way. There may have been a few backward glances, but that was to be expected sometimes.

"You probably have a lot of questions for me," she began. "Walk with me for a bit." And then she promptly turned on her heel and started traipsing away, not even bothering to turn back and see if he was actually following her.

"Uh, yeah I do," he said, hurrying slightly to catch up to her. "I don't even really know where to begin though, honestly."

She pursed her lips, tapping her dainty index finger against them as if in deep thought. "Why not ask where I'm leading you?" she suggested.

"Okay, where are you taking me?" he asked as they arrived at a stairwell that was in the process of moving. There didn't appear to be anyone on it, so it seemed like it'd be safe to talk to her.

"Well, that's a surprise, so I can't tell you," she answered swiftly. Harry promptly tripped over a stair, but caught the railing to steady himself.

"But you said-"

"I'm well aware, Harry. Can I call you Harry?" Luna asked sweetly.

"Sure, but-"

"I just got the ball rolling, that's all," was the only answer he was probably going to get out of the girl.

"Oh," he responded, a little unbalanced. "So, ah, what do you know about my **Charisma**?" he asked.

"It's grown quite a lot over the past summer, hasn't it?" came her almost infuriating response.

"You know what I mean though, surely," he said in exasperation.

"I do," she giggled, whilst skipping up the stairs. "And don't call me Shirley."

"Ah, right. Must you be so circuitous with me, Luna?" His mental fortitude was starting to wear quite easily in her presence.

"Yes," Luna answered happily. Then she stopped skipping, and starting walking like a robot. Her mirthful grin evaporated, replaced with a thin flat blankness. "And I never gave you permission to use my first name, Potter."

"Ah, right. Well, um, can I call you Luna?" he asked, disconcerted with her change of pace. She simply nodded and kept new attitude threw him off, and he stopped talking for the time being.

They soon arrived at the library, where she found a desk in one of its darker corners and sat down. He sat down across from her, warily eyeing the wispy young girl.

"You were acting so suspicious... about taking me to the library?" he asked, kind of let down at this turn of events. Honestly he'd been expecting some super secret room or a passageway, or _something_. Harry just sighed, unsure about how he should take this entire situation as a whole. "I don't understand the need for cloak and dagger bullshit, but whatever. What did you want from me?"

Luna slowly blinked at him, before saying, "Did you know that my mother is dead too?"

He could only blink at that non sequitur. "Uh, I did not. I'm assuming this is somehow about her?" he queried, completely baffled by everything that had happened thus far.

Her eyes, normally airy and distant, were now fiery. "She was known as an adept spellcrafter that worked from our home. Her death resulted from improperly casting an experimental spell, right in front of me. But, that's just the official story."

"I'm guessing there's an unofficial story?" he said slowly.

"Selena Lovegood was an Unspeakable," Luna said softly. "She continued her research at home when she wasn't at the Ministry, delving deep into arcane arts and ancient lore. She knew things that would drive most people insane trying to comprehend, the sorts of things that dark wizards would happily commit genocides to learn..."

"She was murdered?" Harry asked softly.

"Yes," she breathed, staring into his eyes fiercely. "You should know that she was not born a Lovegood; she married into our Most Ancient and Revered House at the behest of her parents. She was once Selena Black, the eldest of the three Black sisters. With Sirius being on the run, Regulus dead, and Bellatrix in Azkaban, my mother was poised to inherit the Black family inheritance. Not Narcissa, who is now Mrs. Malfoy."

"... The Malfoys had your mother killed so they could inherit the Black family fortune?" asked Harry, his teeth grinding in utter hatred.

"I don't think Narcissa was aware of this; I think responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of Lucius," corrected Luna, a small frown marring her face. "My request, is that you take _everything_ from that man, just like he has done to my father and I. You are fully capable of doing this, whereas I am not. And I know, for a fact, that you have enough motivation on your own to go after him..."

They quietly sat across from each other. He pondered what she was asking of him, thinking about how he would even go about granting her vengeful request.

* * *

 **Objective Completed:** **Hear Luna Lovegood's Request  
Completion Reward: 2(500) EXP  
**

 **Objective Unlocked: Ruin Lucius Malfoy's Life**

* * *

"Now, I want you to be straightforward with me. What do you actually know about my **Charisma** , and how do you know about it?" he demanded of her. Now that he knew that she was perfectly capable of being serious, he wanted answers.

"I'm grateful that you're going to help me, you know? It's just that my source is a little hard to believe..."

"Try me."

"Alright, here goes... Harry, I'm a seer; that's my Semblance, the unique way my soul affects my magic. But I'm not the kind that sees the future, or anything like that. I can literally see the realities of the people around me with nothing more than a touch. That's how I know about the **Game** , even if I'm not a player," she answered, her eyes suddenly finding the table far more interesting than his face.

"That sounds suspiciously useful," he put out there, staring hard at her downcast face. "Why can't you look at me anymore? You should know that I don't have anything against seers that aren't frauds..."

She looked back at him, suddenly very nervous. "I don't think you understand, Harry.I know everything about your life: the Dursley family's treatment of you, your encounters with Voldemort, how you saved Ginny from a Basilisk, the way dementors affect you, what your boggart turns into, the form of your corporeal patronus, and even what you saw in the Mirror of Erised. I know which girls you want to date, the thoughts you have about them, the things you masturbate to, and every other secret thing about your life..."

Harry swallowed hard. He really hadn't thought of it like that. "... I think I'll need a minute to process that..." he said softly.

She nodded in understanding. "It makes it hard to have an identity of my own. When you're everybody, you're nobody. Hopefully that makes some sense... Ah, it doesn't. The amount of information I experience, the sheer number of memories that flood my mind in any given day... It's why I act out, why I make outrageous claims; I make myself stand out in the sea of other people's perspectives because its the only way to find myself, I suppose."

He just closed his eyes. "I'll still help you, despite all that. I just..." _feel a little sick to my stomach_. "... need another minute, I think."

He heard the seat across from him scrape along the ground, and knew that she vacated it. "I think I should be going now," she said timidly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you all that-"

"No, it's fine. I actually really appreciate it," he said, his eyes still closed. "I'm sorry that I'm not-" But she was already gone.

He frowned, and noticed a piece of parchment sitting on the table in front of him, folded in half. Curiously, he picked it up, wondering if Luna wrote it just before bolting on him. Unfolding it, he almost dropped it in shock at the simple statement written on it. The implication alone...

* * *

 _You aren't the only one, Harry_

* * *

 **Author's Note: Be sure to check out the poll on my profile! Also yes, the Semblance is based loosely on RWBY. But, not every witch or wizard has one; only the extremely gifted or lucky do. It's kinda like Sacred Gears from Highschool DxD in that regard.  
**


End file.
